the treatment worked

I once had a wart on my hand
Between my thumb and index finger
The doctor froze it first until I was numb
Then burned so deeply
Into the crease of my palm
I could smell my skin smoking

You did the same
When you were so cold
I could not bear to feel for you
Then in a shocking but predictable twist
You burned me so successfully
I doubt you would recognize me anymore
Only a scar of the blemish you removed

The wart
By the way
Never came back

i thought about the beating of my heart

I thought about the beating of my heart
Until it became almost voluntary
Until I felt the need to tighten my chest
To push the blood through
Again
And again
And again
As though the mind could ever have
The strength and endurance
Of the heart

And I thought about
The spinning of the earth
And the ravenous, relentless
Center of the solar system
As it forcefully and without effort
Drags our world around itself
Again
And again
And again

And I thought lastly
About how I am as helpless to say to my heart, "beat"
As I am to say to the sun, "burn"
And I'm surprised I was not so humbled by this sooner