The Heart Borrower

On days like these,
when the wind does not blow,
There is stillness in the trees
and the grass will not grow.

These are the days
friends huddle close,
Eyes swell with pity,
and words turn morose.

Then haunting tension
draws tight the air,
shadows become enemies,
of the ignorantly unaware.

These are the days,
the heartless beast roams.
Making her way,
with a heartbreaking moan.

Stalking the bushes,
staling the air.
Watching and waiting.
She's everywhere.

Hold your hand over your heart,
clutch your clothes tight.
It won't stop her from taking
your joy and delight.

Wary won't work.
Neither will nerves.
She will choose you or not,
without any words.

Rotting dead fingers,
clouded, unblinking eyes.
Hope her gaze won't linger,
that the stories were always lies.

If you are unlucky,
she will steal it away,
your chest will go hollow,
not a beat that remains.

As it settles beneath her ribs,
she sighs in relief.
Her body will heal
until both human and theif.

Now you feel,
as she always felt,
empty and hollow
so cold you can't melt.

Your smiles are ghosts
your laugh is too forced
there is no light in your eyes
You assume the worst.

That golden light,
that once beat in your chest.
vanished without fight
no struggle at all, a flinch at best.

No one can tell,
not even you,
as she walks among us,
not even a clue.

Until your heart weakens,
her body then rots
back to a creature
with pain woven knots.

A final last kindness,
one carried in despair,
she relinquishes the heart
that once she did bear.

It stumbles back
sobbing and bruised,
some beats it still lacks
from the day it was used.

A dim light returns,
a soul in your smile
not yet does it burn,
it might in a while.

Soon you will be full,
laughing and crying,
forgotten the pull
and the light in you dying.

Its days like these,
she borrows a heart,
a moment as human,
before she departs.

Although you are wary,
driven by need
she will take it away
but not horde it in greed.

In the end you are the same,
as she wonders in vain,
collapses in pain.
And does it all again.