Our rational nature is to ask questions and to understand. We piece together childhood events, relationships, connection with nature, expressions of culture, and human fragility. What does it all mean? The collection of poems, Age of Innocence, starts off with childhood where the child is shielded from the world. The encounter with nature opens the path to metaphysical reflection while relations undergo reanalysis, reassurance, and rejection. Cultures may surprise and delight, but also confuse and disturb. What is the emotional "impact" over time? Innocence is progressively shattered as one discovers poverty, loneliness, and discrimination. The adult becomes the innocent "patient." Is there refuge behind clinic doors? Fragmented, the person blurs reality and illusion and seeks healing.