Meditation #19

An old saying holds
that what concerns the milkman
does not concern the plumber.
If my memory serves me,
it was the milkman who said that.
(I don’t recall what the plumber said.)

Come to think of it, I don’t recall
anyone other than the milkman
ever saying it, so maybe it was
just his opinion. Maybe there’s
a body of proverbs for milkmen,
and with the continuing decline

in the number of milkmen, it’s a font
of wisdom that’s being lost.  All those
early mornings going from house to house,
carrying bottles up to porches and stoops,
the same orders again and again, with only
the occasional change to speculate on: why

do the Millers need two extra quarts today,
and where did the Ducharmes go
for the week that made them suspend delivery?
The milkmen must have known a thing or two
about still water and ripples from a tossed pebble,
and talked about those things amongst themselves.

It’s different for plumbers: they show up
in the moment of change or crisis, then move on.
Their gatherings must be raucous with stories
of explosions, floods, stink, disaster.
Milkmen had a different view, a learning

that comes from watching slow shifts in behavior
and occasional mild upheavals that settle into
permanence in short order. What concerns the milkmen
doesn’t concern the plumber; what concerns me
is that milkmen are disappearing,
but we’ll always need the plumbers.