The Color of the Heart

The gods took her tears
and drew them up
to a place in the heavens,
before it melts into infinity.

Each crystal drop
contained a loss:
her mourned lover,
her mother's death,

the loss of her art,
the lengthening years,
and the loneliness of a life
too large for a small place.

But the gods
saw that those tears
flowed from her heart
with its shimmering red-lit center,

and they were pleased.
They transformed the tears
and gave them back to her
in all the seasons of her years.

The gifts were the color of blood:
there were rosy raspberries in spring,
juicy cherries in summer,
sweet cloudberries in fall,

and the scarlet of holly-berries
shining through the long winter night.
So that she would never lose faith
or hope in the time she was given,

the gods filled the brook
outside her door with water so merry
and red at sunset that she smiled,
even when her heart was breaking.

Anne Yohn
July 25, 2000