Health Poem by Lynn W. Petty

A Little Prose or A Little Lecture, not sure.

Of all man's miseries and catastrophes, through his history in time,
None have been so severe that he has not been able to overcome,
Recover or rebuild from them. If his house is destroyed, he replaces
It. If he loses his money, he regains it or lives less extravagantly.
If his loss is by death, he bereaves, but recovers with time.
These calamities do not have an effect on his physical self.
It is his own personal illness that affects the very essence of his being.
When his malady is accompanied with pain, which wears upon his mind
Body and soul, defeating his ability to perceive pleasures such as taste,
Movement, thought or love, he is without possession of his greatest gift,
His health. Health is the spirit that animates his pleasures in life.
It is without conscious value until it is lost. Man's true capital wealth
Is health. The return on his investment is his freedom from disease
And abnormality, living his life in the soundness of optimal well-being.
How we take for granted that which is so tenuous.! !