Sickness and In Health

For the Polish, it’s commonpractice to say na zdrowiewhile raising a drink (think cheers)or following a sneeze (god bless you).

Too much of either, however,suggests quite the opposite,no matter how many timesthe refrain insists on improving conditions.

Certainly the next day’s pleasurefrom the previous’s liberal cheersingfeels relatively proportionateto about the length of a sneeze,

especially if consumed at its speedand in a spell of fits. The sneeze disorientsmomentarily, comes with a tickle-warning.A drink is its own cautionary tale,

betrothed to the unbulbous nose,blessed ruddy, shooter of snot,from which our heads we unbowlike glasses coming up, and touching, a vow.