Occupational Therapy

It was in the time when the rains began

I awakened from my coma

            Weak and twitchy.

I don’t know what had roused me to consciousness—

            Was it you?

I remembered more than I thought I would,

            But with less interest, having now rested so near death.

Your shoulders are very broad, and you are strong,

            So I think that you hardly notice how I am leaning on you

            As I exercise the tightness out of my mind,

            Stretch the sinews of my heart

            And restore circulation to my limbs.

And I am fairly certain you are unaware

            How precious your small remarks are, which you take for granted as courtesy,

            Because they confirm my small successes,

            Incremental restoration.

You surely have seen, though,

            That I brighten as you walk through the door.

My feeling of gratitude remains undimmed for small gestures in a time of weakness.

 Go ahead and be kind to someone today. You just never know.