A Lament For How It No Longer Is As It Used To Be

It is my knee It no longer is as it used to be I used to be able to jog, bike, and run on cross country skis Teach yoga for many years; do yoga on my own Where ever I would go In the mountains, on a plane, and every morning As I got out of bed Last time I did it on the beach, I could stand on one leg As long as it would take to fix my gaze and my mind At that pristine heavenly blue distant sky My mind calm without a thought purified my soul That all was a month ago Since then due to my torn meniscus things have changed The meniscus, a piece of rubber like tissue Between the knee joints Its function, to protect the knee bones From rubbing each other off For 70 years, this piece of tissue served me well I never knew it even existed But a month ago, on the left leg, with one single twist I tore the left side of the meniscus And this little two inch tear has changed many things I have to keep the knee in a steady state To let the meniscus heal itself Not twisting, twiddling, pulling or stretching Only hoping, that one day The injured meniscus will heal itself And thing will be as they used to be Not less not more, just as they used to be. (Naples Feb 15, 2015) That was a year ago My meniscus did heal on its own I can now do whatever I want But the wisdom of what happened a year ago Is still with me, to prevent me from further injury I am grateful that it is almost as it used to be. (Naples, Dec 20, 2015)