Poem: A Warm Heart

For Jonathan

Men are weak to tears because they remind
them that life is not a competition,
that hardness of heart is not normal
nor is it virtuous. Tears remind men of pride
which is folly; for in all their
strength, it takes a soft and tender heart to sit
with the wounded. It takes vulnerability
and what is that in the eyes of cold, domineering strength?
It is a power that they cannot comprehend
tears melt a man’s cold heart,
tears trickle through the ice
as they pass through rivers, seas and moats
and in time, hard men shall embrace
the tragic and beautiful reality
of a warm heart’s giant roar.