THE HEART

"I threw mine into the icy river below," she said.

"I hadn't felt it beat in years.
It's past lingered for a moment on the water,
then it too drowned with all my fears."

"I thought once or twice about going in after it,
but it grew so cold, I just knew it had died.
To have saved it and tried to revive it
would have only been suicide."

"It was so tired and it was broken
and it seemed impossible to heal.
It sunk easily under the weight of the pain
which I was happy I'd no longer feel."

"But now it seems someone has found it
and they have kept it for their own.
I hear it's getting stronger, but....
a sickening absence is all I've known."

"There once was a time I believed
pain came only from lies and deceit
but now it aches for a wanting;
something missing with every beat."

A silent moment passed on a cold wind
up from where the icy river lay.
She glanced around at the station
then smiling, looked over the bridge to say:

"I must go now. My train leaves soon.
Leaving this river, no need to come back.
When I return home my heart won't be alone
because my angel waits at the end of this track."

-donna beckery
082406