A physical trainer

at my gym

once took me aside

& began asking me

a lot of

philosophical questions.

***

Like,

“How much could I dead lift?”

***

“I don’t know,”

I said.

 “we’ll have to continue this

conversation

when I am dead.

But if I had to guess,

I would guess,

zero pounds.”

***

And then,

in a twinkling of an eye,

I was gone.

Never to return.

***

Though

I would continue

paying monthly

gym fees

for another fourteen years.