He installed a zipper above his heart,
to ease the opening and closing of it.
At first without a key,
until he grew annoyed how,
during warm weather,
people would open or close it
based on their own whims.

So he added a lock,
had a few keys made,
gave them out.

Then the same problem emerged,
people letting themselves in even when
he didn’t want them to,
even those he thought he could trust.

So he got a combination lock instead,
memorized the code and never gave it out.

Years went by and one morning
he woke and, when he went to unzip
his sternum to play with his heart for a few minutes,
he discovered that he’d forgotten the combination.

From then on, opening his chest
would be impossible
without risking serious injury.

– Victor McConnell