New Hearts Grow

Hearts

Towards the end of last year, I was on radio here in Ghana reading a couple of poems for a Writers’ program. This morning I woke up feeling like sharing one of those poems with you all, in small sympathy with anybody who didn’t enjoy their Vals day. Hope you enjoy this one.

New Hearts Grow
The morning you left home
You left your heart on the dining table.
I called out after you, tried to run after the taxi that drove you away
To give your heart back.
But I was too late.
So I took it in and opened it up.
And peeped.

If it was mine, I would have left it too.
The walls, plastered over with broken promises
Bleached dreams competing for shine with blisters.
I saw the spot where he ran away from you
Many places, where pieces of heart resented the glue
The lesions, graffiti of infidelity
There was the day they took your innocence
You were still fourteen.
I shut the theater of your insides.

I tried again to return your heart
Praying all the while, it will never reach you
For the chance that you will feel none of this anymore
For the chance that where you were going, you would not have to need it.
For the chance that where you were going, new hearts grow.