X Marks the Spot

She made a map that led straight

to her heart, giving copies
to a few. Another one or two
searched high and low and found
some maps with trouble and at
much expense, then found her,
clutching parchment
in their greedy sweaty hands
that were not worthy. X did not
mark the spot, therefore, for she
saw them coming, smelled them
from afar, relocating her
affections lest they find her heart
and cause it damage even more
than what, throughout her life,
it had endured. But one man,
only one, will find her heart one day
without a map at all, because his whole life's
led him there, and she will be
somewhat surprised when he shows
up, but thankful, joyful, and fulfilled.
And X will represent not just her
heart, but how two hearts have joined,
how blood has mingled, how their
laughter sounds, to others, like one voice.


(c) Ellen Gillette, 2014