An Ode to All the Corners of My Heart

There is this thing inside my chest that daily gives me grief

Whether clothed in fire or ice, it’s never a relief

Some wonder if it’s even there, I am so cold at times

But few have known its passions, and fewer still its rhymes

Today as I was walking, its beating stopped me short

As if to ask a question, or mumble a retort

“Do you even see me?” my heart then asked my mind

“Because from how you’re acting, I’m sure that you’ve gone blind”

My mind dared not to answer, lest the blood stop in my veins

And stopped to simply listen and for once let go the reins
“I have some things to tell you,” said the voice inside my heart

“Don’t be frightened or uneasy, just be open for a start”

“I’m not the weaker side of you, we’re equal don’t you see?

You always try to drown me out, you never let me be

Who told you that I’m useless? Or one sided? Never right?

When you know it’s me you come to when you can’t sleep every night”

“I wish that you would look at me, give me the time of day

I’m not as simple as you think, in any single way

I’m made of many corners, many twists and many turns

It is I who breaks and stands, who weathers and who burns”

“I love that you’re so prudent, so careful and so wise

But isn’t all this safety sometimes fear in good disguise?

Not everything is logical, not everything is clean

My dear, you have no faith at all if everything is seen”

“I chose this moment wisely as you walked and watched the clouds

It was my one and only chance, while nothing else was loud

Except the beating of your heart, you felt it deep inside

You stopped to watch the setting sun, you held your breath and cried”

“You asked yourself how it could be, that you should be alive

When others far more generous, more loving, and more kind

No longer walk the paths you walk, no longer breathe the air

Another thing you can’t explain, the one thing you can’t bear”

“You worry you’re not doing good, you wonder if He’s there

But mind, you’ll never process all the things that just aren’t fair

I am the balance to your doubt, the place where you can bend

For I am how He speaks to you, to comfort and to mend”

“You think so much is folly, that it’s wrong to look inside

But I have all the truth on all the secrets that you hide

Each memory is bathed in gold, each pair of eyes a gem

It doesn’t take a thing from you to stop and look at them”

“I beg you now to give me say, don’t silence me once more

Ignore me, fine, but only if it’s after, not before

Before I have the chance to feel, to try to understand

To whisper of the things you love though they may be unplanned”

“I am to be your partner through life’s unyielding plot

Though we both know a compromise isn’t what you sought

Reason this and reason that, I hope you always do

But promise me, for our girl’s sake, you listen to me, too”

And as I stood there trembling, feeling every pulse of blood

My heart’s voice gently faded, like the calm after a flood

I breathed again so swiftly, like I’d not in twenty years

The sun it set and took the light along with many fears

The corner that I walked today was strong and loud as thunder

It wouldn’t let me waste another sunset heart asunder

So here’s to all the many corners waiting for their chance

Be sure to scream or make me cry, or you’ll miss a second glance