Heart to Heart

It’s neither red
nor sweet.
It doesn’t melt
or turn over,
break or harden,
so it can’t feel
pain,
yearning,
regret.

It doesn’t have
a tip to spin on,
it isn’t even
shapely—
just a thick clutch
of muscle,
lopsided,
mute. Still,
I feel it inside
its cage sounding
a dull tattoo:
I want, I want—

but I can’t open it:
there’s no key.
I can’t wear it
on my sleeve,
or tell you from
the bottom of it
how I feel. Here,
it’s all yours, now—
but you’ll have
to take me,
too.

—by Rita Dove

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10 Responses to Heart to Heart

  1. Cheryl Sullivan says:

    Nice!

  2. Barry Littmann says:

    The first Valentine poem: “Madam I’m Adam”

  3. Patricia Markert says:

    Brilliant!

  4. Kate Gyllenhaal says:

    How beautiful.

  5. Bev says:

    Love the love poem!!

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