'Give One Thing More, a Gratefull Heart'

I spent Thursday morning in the hospital having a nuclear stress test performed. It’s a painless, time-consuming procedure made pleasant by the nurses and techs who worked on me. By my count they represented five countries of origin, not including my cardiologist, who is from India. My blood pressure has been distressingly low and the doctor urged me to use more salt after I’ve spent a lifetime hearing the opposite advice. He also fetched a can of Coke, the high-test stuff, something I haven’t drunk since I was a kid. He thought the caffeine would help, considering I had been fasting and didn’t consume my usual two cups of coffee first thing in the morning. 

To pass the time and fortify my heart (the purpose of the test was to clear me for multiple surgeries) I brought along the pocket-size Oxford World’s Classic edition of The Poems of George Herbert, Such a companionable poet. See “Gratefulnesse,” which begins:

 

“Thou that hast giv’n so much to me,

Give one thing more, a gratefull heart.

See how thy beggar works on thee

                                              By art.”