2007-10-27 Poetry, Landscape of My Heart

Landscape of My Heart.

In the landscape of my heart
You have no part,
You who stand at the border pass,
Throwing rocks and yelling slurs.
You shall not pass!

In the landscape of my heart
Are valleys of dreams and streams of hope
Eventually replaced by memories
Of good times, amazing things and cherished friends.

I used to let my fantasies run wild across
The meadow of my heart.
But fantasies tend to crash and burn
Against the rocks and cliffs of the real world.
So now, my fantasies are left
In the puffy clouds that float across the sky.
They are not allowed to touch the ground
In the landscape of my heart.

The mountains surrounding my heart
Are impossible to pass without
The pass of my permission.
Standing at the pass to
The landscape of my heart,
I watch the people passing by
As I travel through my day.
Some of them are vandals,
Spewing graffiti against my cliffs;
It drips down and runs away. They
Cannot touch the beauty, they
Cannot see the glory, they
Cannot have the memories
In the landscape of my heart.

The memories of my friends may walk
The landscape of my heart.
At least the good parts
And the true parts even though
The truth is sometimes sad.
I continue to remind myself that
Everyone’s imperfect. They
Will all eventually fail at some point;
Will fail to protect my heart.
But good friends will be mostly good
And will apologize for failing,
If they know that they have failed.
Sometimes they need reminding.

In the landscape of my heart,
There’s room enough to store
The hopes and dreams my friends
May share with me. It’s my job
To remember and protect them,
And help them grow up
Into memories.

In my life, the more friends I have
The more sure I am
That I will, someday, endure the pain
Of losing someone I loved
(through death or betrayal).
When that day comes,
Like a cataclysmic event,
It will tear out all
The hopes and dreams
I had for that person
From the landscape of my heart.
I will mourn the loss.
And close the pass,
For a time,
To repair the damage
And package the memories
Of good times, for later review.
Only old and trusted friends
May reach me then.