Purple Heart Poem by Salma Ahmed

''Do you know that purple heart,
Always smiling on the sidewalk? ''
She said, her hands reaching to that part
Where her head was buried when she once broke.

''I've never seen that heart before,
But always knew it, it was mine,
Chanting spells at night outside my door,
Standing at my heels in every line.

And I always thought it strange,
That I heard it loudly, clearly beating,
No matter what the world will change,
Beat after beat, I heard it fleeting.

Repeated screaming would instead fill my soul,
The sounds of deranged pearl holders,
Here under my feet to offer their all,
At the marvels of my heart's borders.

Some then stray and some then sleep,
Under my skin demanding to be repaid,
By desire and sunlight and rapture to keep,
When cold and dark past their welcome had stayed.

And I try to collect them in my hand,
Arrange them carefully, meticulously in strings,
Strong enough to hold my neck and withstand,
the wear and tear and twist of things.

There, nerves and sinews in hearts of pearls,
Where pearls of hearts tire and succumb,
There, a smile of love from a little girl,
That grew up and died at the doors of numb.

And then her lungs had not enough air,
And then her pearls ran high and dry,
And then her face was no longer fair,
And then her heart wasn't red enough to cry.

And then I looked outside to the sidewalk,
And I saw the suffocating smiling purple heart,
It is mine, fixed me when I once broke,
It is mine, with a promise not to depart.''