Don’t worry –

I have washed my hands and chopped

today’s right-out-of-the-garden

vegetables and edible flower petals

on the wooden butcher block

per your detailed SOP

I have not snuck beef, chicken

or fish broth into the soup or

the dead flesh of any other animal

No additives, nitrites, MSG,

preservatives, sulfates,

or any other of that other junk

Strictly sea salt

I will only be serving made-from-scratch

multigrain legume and nut bread

Funny, I once skimmed

dust blown from a latrine

on the Cambodian Border

off the surface of brackish water

in my canteen cup,

and I’m still here!

As for that expensive sack of herbs,

supplements and bromides you swear by,

let it be known they have been

callously peddled since witchdoctors

mixed potions for the gullible

The old timers called them,

“Snake Oil”

Today they are labeled,

“Health Food”

Don’t worry

Everybody’s going to die,

no matter what they finger,

ingest or inhale

It’s called the cycle of life