May 26, 2022
A heart is made to be broken
like a bicycle helmet
that cracks on impact
instead of your head.
The heart splits
or balloons out
and pushes you back
whole and away from impact.
It takes the blow.
A passion fuse
that pops in overload.
When your heart breaks
remember
you have been saved.
When you're up against a post
pounding with your fist,
"No! No! No!"
understand you've been blown off a terrible course.
The guard rail has kept you back
from the abyss of deeper and deeper.
Your safety heart
took the big dark weight of loss
and shunted it to the side.
When you're bucking in the bed
biting the sheets
trying to strangle that scream
remember:
this is missing a calamity
this is what it's like to get away.
For Francesca with a broken heart by Robert Priest
