BENEDY

The ancient word for illness—malady
Had no correlative, like benedy,
Just as for ages illness merely meant
The lack of health, a nominal content,
But nothing better, loftier than that,
No greater state we might be aiming at.

But then, a few decades ago, the term
Wellness evolved revealing, past the Sturm
Und Drang of life’s vicissitudes, a way
Had opened showing where perfection lay:
A stage of optimal humanity
Not simply health, but higher sanity,

A vision of true wholeness we can grasp
In thought then struggle mindfully to clasp.

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