I GIVE YOU MY HEART

I give you my heart

made of paper and ribbon

of glue, sequins and crayons,

all held together with childish love.

I made it all by myself

see how it sparkles,

look what I wrote inside

with my big red pencil

just for you.

I give you my heart

soft and tender

with the wonder of new love.

I've never felt this way before,

as if you could see it beating

right beneath my blouse

each time I see you.

It scares me so to feel this way,

please don't break it.

I give you my heart

and my hand in marriage

to have and to hold

till death do us part.

You are my soul mate,

my one true love.

I knew it from the start

from the way my heart fluttered

as the very thought of you.

I give you my heart

it rests there in your tiny hand.

I realize that from now on

a part of my heart

will always walk outside myself

with you, my child.

I know a love now

unlike any other,

and I feel blessed.

I give you my heart

for I need it no longer.

I am free now from this body,

free from the pains and troubles

of this earthly world.

Thank you, dear Spirit

for loaning me this heart

for without it I would never

have known the true meaning of Love.

Rose Steedley Williams

©Southernstoryteller~Feb. 2010

What Lies Beneath

What lies beneath our brain~

That gray matter of thought and reason

the inner sanctum of our humanness

where decisions are molded

and ideas born at random

where creativity hibernates

and aspirations hide
only coming out at night

to dance among our dreams?

What lies beneath our beating hearts

beneath the sheathed muscled epicenter

of emotion where love and lust reside,

sometimes in tandem,

sometimes askew...

this visceral place where

we ache with grief

and love with abandon

where despair is hidden

but hope arises?

What beauty lies within our soul~

it's butterfly wings flapping,

longing for enlightenment
but trapped by convention and society

that ephemeral being we are 

yet daily struggle to remember, 

the whys and hows

of where we came from

and how to find the key

to open the door to inner ourselves.

What lies beneath our outward façade?

The one we show the world even as

it cages our true heart’s desire

doing what is “expected”

rather than what we want.
What lies beneath it all
waiting to be discovered,
recognized, remembered,
and embraced.

That is the true reason we are here...
to unearth what lies beneath.

Rose S. Williams©Southernstoryteller-2013