HOW MANY WAYS CAN A HEART BREAK? by Edith Lazenby

I was moved by a couple of folk to write this poem, as well as my own sense of loss…

Grief and I are close friends. When I stop crying I know that is when I need to worry. Lately life threw me a curve ball but all will work out, as it always does.

I hold faith close to my heart and believe in prayer.

So I offer this up, because we all know what heartbreak is like and getting up again is the hard part when we want to hide and let go of all.

~Art by by Johann Heinrich Füssli~

How Many Ways Can a Heart Break?

Loss wears an odd face.

It is my newest friend

Whose toddler died

While he was 180 miles away.

It is watching the man I love

Make love to another woman,

Night after night.

It is loving a baby I didn’t have

But was so close it should’ve

Been mine.

It is having love tease you into believing

This one man will hold your heart

Until he breaks it.

It is having every man you ever tried

To love leave you alone, again,

With your cat and television.

It is your dad caring for his wife

Who has no more memory,

And only a moment she cannot share.

It is losing the only job you ever knew

To bullies and believing justice wins

To learn at 60 life isn’t fair.

It is losing your mind and everything

That held truth to insanity

And facing the one fear

Besides death that stalks

All but only chooses a few.

Life is not fair.

Hearts break in a million ways.

Being alone with your beloved

Is like an embrace you cannot feel.

Embracing the good with the bad,

Knowing it’s all a journey,

Hoping you can always cry

Because then you can laugh,

Keeping the heart open

When it wants to close,

That’s courage.

I have fallen a thousand ways.

And I have only gotten up one way:

Finding my feet and looking inside

To know my heart will heal

If I stand up, one more time,

Brush myself off and take what’s hopeless

And let it die so something new can be born,

Alive and kicking, like the child I never had

But learning it’s the love I give that bears life

Even when all I feel inside is dead.

Edith Lazenby: “I love to write. I began writing poetry in elementary school. Sometimes I write poetry daily, other times not. I adore Mary Oliver, her way of embracing the light while acknowledging the darkness. I teach yoga full time and find the practice has grounded me deeper in my body and heart and helped me move closer to what I call spirit. I also now edit for Elephant Journal and write for them as well. I live with my husband, who is my best friend, and 4 kitties. Life holds challenges yet with time I feel better able to live in the moment, moment by moment. All great teachers teach presence. I find each day is a lesson in being. The process of writing holds me and I find the craft teaches me something new each time. You may visit my blog here.

~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~

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Journey of the Heart

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