Laughing Heart


Do you remember when we laughed?

There was a time we gave each other
What we needed.
Milkweed you brought me,
And I gave you names for what previously
Did not even exist -- pink hair and intimacy.

Did you know that I needed you?
Did you know that I have an empty space
Right in the middle of my chest
Not far beneath the skin.

It is pierced with a sliver of ice
That never melts
Except when you laugh.

This is where I am broken,
For my heart is ripped apart
By ice.
The pain never stops
And the pressure of the cold
Throbs stronger than a heartbeat.

The ache goes on
And never warms
Except in your smile.

- Sally Clay
Saturday, July 25, 1992

*** Sharewrite 2005 Sally Clay ***
Permission is granted for personal distribution of this document
as long as it is unchanged in any way and this notice is included.
For permission to reprint it for general publication, contact me at
zangmo@sallyclay.net.

 


Back to Poems