If your best friend of forty plus years
has the loving idea
to buy you a massage at the Chelsea Pier Fitness Center
in New York City on 19th Street and 7th Avenue
Be sure to ask for Karen
Though a tiny little thing, she will give you
a very strong massage
making sure to pay particular attention
to the trouble spots, like your winging scapula,
swollen arm, painful cording,
and terrified heart
She might say
“What have you been holding on to that you must let go of?”
and as you lie there weeping
though younger than you by forty plus years
she will call you “sweet one”
and tell you that even if the body’s ailing
the soul is never sick
G. Gray
7/17/13