If You Are Nervous, Take Heed Poem by Stan Petrovich

Ask why, if the maple trees get nervous
As the dry winds of October strip their leaves
And all are lost,
Do they fret?
They close down but do not die.

If a doctor tells you
Of the cancer eating away your pancreas
And you have precious little time
To go, do you take action,
Take another step, if into a canyon in Utah,
Then you will die shortly-
Do what you never tried, act
As if you're falling fast,
Get in the time you always had lost,
Gross love, potent charity, heady learning?
Never say die, as Kipling would say,
But die if you must
With a brazen calmness.