This Heart!

A flash swept through my mind ~
just a short while ago....
I thought about my heart
which I so often ignore!
My Heart! What's truly in it?
I decided to explore.......
I saw many lovely things
as I walked in through the door.
I felt warmth and true compassion
filling me with calm reaction.
Finding gentleness and kindness,
which were the color of my chamber walls,
Made me realize... how vast is my heart!
and how the rest of me seems so small!
Mine is not cold and calloused
as a factory's would be:
With cold fluid running through the pipes
and clenching fists for valves!

The plumbing in these chambers
carry fresh, warm living blood!
The kind most people in this world
would like to have more of.
The oxygen that travels
through this massive little pump,
Is surely pure enough for a fresh, new jump!
Therefore, I find....
There is no longer room for anger;
There is no longer room for hate!
So I must walk out to the back yard
and sweep them out the gate!
With anger there is fire
which can consume my chamber walls...
With hate the framing weakens
leaving my heart ready for a fall!
Then as I walked back in,
My calm reaction became stunted!
For I then saw something more:
My heart still remains haunted!

Sitting in a corner,
I spied sadness and mistrust.
I cried as I reviewed them,
And I knew it was a must...
That I scrape off all that rust!
For this, I would need hammer and chisel;
Because for so long I have cried!
How did those tears seep through my plumbing
to form the rust inside?
Sadness can only beat me if I allow it to...
Distrust has left it's deep, deep scars;
Many more than just a few.
"I can't expect a miracle"
I keep saying to myself.
Yet I will work on this corner
and reach to polish up the shelves.
'Shelves'... that sit in
the lonely corner labeled 'Distrust'.

However, for today ~
I think I've done a darn good job
working on the inventory...
Which will free me from the mob!
The mob ~ I have allowed within
my vast chamber walls!
The mob that has smothered me ~
causing many stumbles and many falls.
As I separate and weed
what has been living in my heart,
I will be making room for more
of the lovely things I saw at the start.
To the list of lovely things,
I will add happiness and trust!
All the lowly and all the weak ~
Out the window!
Fly to dust!

DeLayne Victoria Perry