Arrogant Heart, Desperate Heart Poem by Blake Nox Gama

Arrogance seizes the hearts of men
Not with a tyrant's brutish hand
But with the furtive hand of a thief
Stealing from a well-guarded house.

One day we behold the most radiant flower
and our lips burst into song
Composing hymns in a frenzy, in a breathless,
Trembling voice—
The next day, we sit by the flower
Inspiration no longer gurgling in our throats
And demand to hear our flower sing
Hymns and songs and epics
Back to us.

Arrogance steals the hearts of men—
Yet
To hear hymns from my summer flower's lips
Would part the heavens in light and melody—

But arrogance steals the heart of men—
For a flower is always a flower:
Charming, colorful, cheerful—
And a flower has no need to sing hymns
To please poets and bees
Yet still I crawl nearer,
Close my eyes and strain my ears...
And I hear a faint humming.