a smile can speak a thousand words
but it cannot calm a broken heart.
how do you talk to a heart
and tell it to live in the moment
to tell it it’s been broken for a reason?
it has no reasoning
only feeling…

how, after convincing it to open wide
to give itself to another
again going to a vulnerable place
this time because it’s safe
because the other expresses heart and soul,
how do you convince a heart
that its message is received, appreciated with love
but that demons have eaten it
because it was perfect exactly as it was?

how do you tell a heart that it’s ok
to stay open and surrender
when it can think of nothing else
but the last time you told it this
answering its prayers?

how do you tell it that
its karma was shared with another
so you did it no harm
trust me this time and surrender
sent to me from the stars
just your heart in exchange for mine
your soul for mine
to be a colony in which to become each other?

a heart is a star
but it can’t shine when it’s broken
broken because love brings up its brokenness
surrender…
because it’s unknown how long it will take
to heal, if ever.

yet all a heart asks is
why do you walk away from something beautiful?

it does what you say though
and surrenders again…
feeling itself in everything
for guidance
but still it all tells it the same,
that the heart it opened for
is still open
just hidden underneath
and that it should hang on.

© r.e.l. 2/9/08

submitted to caesura 2/5/14

featured on Love Bytes on redbubble

featured on Poetic License Series in may 2011

posted for Poetry Potluck 5/1-5/7/11 doubts, fear, inhibition, hesitation on Jingle Poetry

posted for Poetry Picnic 10/16-10/22/11 on Gooseberry Garden

submitted to Knuckle Sandwich Publishing