When I was first brought here, There was some doubt that I’d survive. Confined by Fate to this wheelchair; barely half alive.
The accident that shattered me had also brought a darkening mood. Some kind soul had suggested Nature’s embrace would do me good.
So now on every day, that’s’ clear I sojourn here among the trees Whose faithful stolid company Is medicine to my disease.
I cannot climb or pick the fruit, I’ve two dead legs and one good arm. Instead, I sketch and paint from Life until the morning light is gone.
We understand each other now. I almost hear the arbor speak They gift me with a purpose now And lend me strength when I am weak.
With pen and paper, paint and ink I learn a healthier way to live And though I can no longer run, I accept I still have much to give.
Some ten years after serving in Union hospitals during the Civil War, Walt Whitman was felled by a stroke. He recuperated near a friend's apple orchard and wrote of his experiences in his journal "Specimen Days".