Heart's Journey

Like determining the cohesion of a Frank Gehry creation, the heart too is a conundrum difficult to resolve. (Image by Guido Grzinic)

Heart’s Journey

Beginning so small,
this mound of tissue,
time's perpetual resuscitation,
life's bellows for passion,
protection's engine of flow.

So simple its form,
this muscle of pulsation,
innocent of harm's way,
liquid breathing of body's dependence,
wanting only to maintain tomorrow's awakening.

Sentries stand guard.
Immunity's breach driven back.
Poisons held at bay.
Health and longevity made secure.

So flickers this flame of flesh,
resisting winds that might extinguish spark
designed impervious for decades to come
until the kiss.

First journey.

Intrusion of passion
begs emancipation of opened heart,
as anguish of unrealized pleasure
hints, but withholds consent.

Rhythms explode,
prying open the chambers of mind,
exposing the unknown magic.

Inner eye bliss.
Distinction
Disruption
Dysfunction
paths arc back on themselves.

Journey two

More kisses
pausing ventricles to stop,
breath taken away,
fantasized glimpses of forever.

Until…

Journeys become obstructed,
become a chaos of choices.

Wrinkles constrict passion's meadow of bliss,
tributaries of spirit becoming dry beds of fossil remains.

Will reason ever concede
to love's unspoken treatise,
heart's hidden secret of survival?

Or

Forever remain but love's monitor,
life's data bank of questions without answers?

How precious the newborn heart.

How precarious its journey.

Reviews

[John the Baptist]

The poet here presents the heart in its two aspects: 1) The physical organ that maintains the survival of the body through its functions; 2) The heart as the symbol of feelings/ passions, the things that impinge upon the mind through its reaction to life experiences. The opening verses concentrate on the first aspect, the physical heart resisting "winds that might extinguish spark." The heart is simply a part of the body machine here, survival its primary function. Then it experiences two "journeys" called kisses, which symbolize the experiences of passion, dysfunction and disruption. In the second of these journeys we see how these experiences begin to affect the physical organ in a negative way, with ventricles and breath taken away. Chaos follows, accelerating the aging process as passion dries up into "fossil remains." We are left to ponder the question of whether human reason can ever understand that of the heart. I would say spiritual evolution must overtake the physical variety before that question can be answered. Deep probing here on an aspect of our lives about which we still have little understanding.

[Poetic Beauty]

The heart has an incredible journey and each heart takes its own path.