A lesson at the bedside

In treatment, when you come across resistance,

let your hands become diviners,

moving past the body’s alibis, finding ruin

where once there was only peace: here, healing happens.

For some, a touch will do the trick. For others,

comfort only comes in finding pain reflected

in the blues of an old jazz piano, the grit

of a grainy photograph, or in the delicate neck

of a paper swan and, suddenly,

recognizing it as their own.

Image courtesy of © 2012 Thinkstock