Perpetual

I once heard a coffee house singer say 

"to capture your heart"

I saw the words scribbled down on an old folded piece of paper in his guitar case

a young face

a creative space

buzzing with hope

your heart

to capture

to keep

exuberance

what will I contain it in?

I stole some nice wood from the woodworking shop

I built myself a box

some of the nails bent over in the hard hard oak

disappointed in myself for not using the dovetail joint

I cut myself on the chisel edge

inside this box was a space

perfectly empty 

perfectly parallel to me

I found a hasp and placed it there

screws perfectly placed so no one could defeat it

but I never found a lock

years went by

I reach up to grab 

but these hearts keep fluttering away

just high enough I cant reach

returning to the ground just far enough away from me

it keeps me

somewhere in the power block a pigeon struck an arc

lifeless on the ground I plucked feathers from its heart

rightfully so compartments in my mind began to part

fiber meshing like velcro

separating Science from art
the head from the heart

 return to the drawing board

I completely own my blunder

The light from above the phone booth flashes bright

Insight

I had it so wrong

her memory knew me before it ever met me

 sewing pieces from the wing

feathers frail and withered

around a watercolored dripping wet heart

Blood drips from a needle cut

released

oh what a spectacle

you see an old black and white movie

with the exception of a glowing red heart

claiming its wings

like a kid letting go of a toy plane

It feels selfish to feel this alive

she smiles in the pale light of the morning

we both feel the mystery

how can two people lift each other

with both feet on the ground? 

we may not have the means to harness this wisdom

to decipher exactly what makes it so,

this thing that could save the world from itself

at the very least

her and I smile

we know a secret

the machine is possible