Feeling Not Quite Well Poem by gershon hepner

I languished, feeling not quite well,
till you, good doctor, treated me;
your icy hands make me as hot as hell,
which will not charge me any fee.

Inspired by an epigram by Martial, Book V, epigram ix:

Languebam: sed tu comitatus protinus ad me
venisti entum, Symmache, disipuliw.
Centum me titigere manus aquiline gelatae:
non habui febrew, Symmache, nunc habeo.

In Wikipedia the following translation is offered:

I felt a little ill and called Dr. Symmachus.
Well, you came, Symmachus, but you brought 100 medical students with you.
One hundred ice-cold hands poked and jabbed me.
I didn't have a fever, Symmachus, when I called you –but now I do.

2/8/08