What is a heart?
Is just the physics of pumping blood?
Is it a chemical reaction that spurs your heart?
Or is it the emotions that empower you in a flood?
The heart full of compassion, love, passion,
And empathy, heralds horror for those who honor
Their loved ones, friends, and co-worker.
They fear their tender heart will be crushed by disillusion.
What do you inundate your heart with to keep it safe?
Do you pour cement in it to harden and protect
Your deliriously delicate heart from hurt?
Do you swamp it with frozen clumps of ice?
Or do you keep it open for more disappointment?
Fear of being wounded by others can be paralyzing,
For out of dread, you might drive those closest
To you away by building fortified walls around your heart.
Yes, hope and trust in others CAN be painful,
But do you retreat and hide?
Or do you expose your compassionate heart
To ensnare others in your warmth?
The decision is yours, of course,
But don’t miss out on life’s pleasure Just because a few experiences were sour!
Poetry for Change 