Naked Heart

My heart is stripped naked

etched with acid

like a balloon in flight

floating away

from sliced anguish.

In the black sky, I find

shattered pieces

of my heart

burrowing into

crumpled clouds,

leaking from

tunneled pain.

Burnt tulip words,

walking on broken

sidewalks, forever scar

my soul, as I

tuck your absence

inside my sleeve,

choked by memories.

Lacerated pain

in my crumbled pith

causes an aching silence

worse than the

shatter of my heart.

I sorrowfully

pick up the pieces

of my heart,

poke them back

into my throbbing chest

and begin rebuilding

my battered soul.