Nobody Touches Handrails Anymore

My friend Elizabeth
In a fit of efficiency
Had her three kids play with chicken pox
Roll, hug, wrestle,
With the infected neighbors
To get it over with
All together like

Two weeks later
Not a dot

Which got me thinking...
I run around hugging sick people
Like there was no tomorrow
(they need love too you know)

Never caught a thing from it

So maybe we’re all mixed up
About what makes us sick

“Don’t be caught dead without antibacterial soap!”
But the FDA just found it doesn’t do squat

I’m wondering if maybe these massive immune systems
Of ours
Need something different from what we might think
Sure vitamins and sleep and the like,
But maybe laughter, hugs, kisses, sunshine without sunscreen
Ripe tomatoes
Being barefoot, afternoon sex, the warm fur of animals
Sinking endlessly into one activity where time fades into the horizon
Eye-contact
What if eye contact proved to be the greatest deterrent to disease?

The slap in the face of my theory is, perhaps, teachers
I’ve heard they can get sick a lot
Staring into all those puppy dog eyes
Astride the runny noses

But maybe if we told them what gems they are
Gave them lots of massage certificates
And heck what about some more
Money
They wouldn’t get sick at all

I’m just thinking...

But I feel better already.