Half on the Earth, half in the heart,
the remedies for all the things
which grieve us wait for those who know
the words to use to find them.
Penobscott people used to make
a medicine for cancer from Mayapple
and South American people knew
the quinine cure for malaria
a thousand years ago.
But it is not just in the roots,
the stems, the leaves,
the thousand flowers
that healing lies.
Half of it lives within the words
the healer speaks.
And when the final time has come
for one to leave this Earth
there are no cures,
for Death is only
part of LIfe, not a disease.
Half on the Earth, half in the heart,
the remedies for all our pains
wait for the songs of healing.
