Copyright © Diane L. Schirf

I saw a heart upon the ground
Yellow, torn, sick, dying, dead.
I thought it was mine.
“Who killed my heart?”
I asked the sky, the earth, the sun.
I asked the moon and the stars.
I asked the birds.
I asked the insects.
I asked all the animals.
And the flowers.
I spared none my grief, my loss.
None knew
Who killed my heart.
Finally, I asked a great tree.
The tree looked down upon my heart.
“It is not your heart.”
“It is not?”
“It is mine.”
And so it was.

Leaf and veins, dead and decayed.
I still have my heart.
(I believe.)
But now it truly grieves
Not for itself
But for another.
It is well at last.

2005

Copyright © Diane L. Schirf

Say goodbye to the heart that never was.
What will you find of me
When there is nothing left?

2005

Copyright © Diane L. Schirf

It rose in light
And fell in darkness.
It filled the world
And shrank from hope.

It strolled the roads
Of fruitful countries.
It fed its mind
And mourned its heart.

It roamed alone
On misty highways.
It saw and felt
Not one like it.

One torn between
The brilliant mountains
And dimmest depths.
It yearned for life.

 And so it learned
Nothing of others.
Only to cry
For its full soul.

1998

Copyright © Diane L. Schirf

Among the stars
A planet dreams
And in the skies
A snowflake sighs.

Among the dreams
Among the sighs
Darkness walks
Wearing night.

With lonely eyes
It cannot see
With hungry mind
It cannot think.

Alone it cries
But cannot feel
Alone it seeks
Again in vain.

And so it goes
Back to the sky
Back to the stars
Back to its home

To dream no more.

2007

Copyright © Diane L. Schirf

Lie down.
Sit down
Stand up.

Run.
Walk.
Leap.

Whisper.
Speak.
Scream.

Scribble.
Write.
Draw.

Eat.
Breathe.
Sleep.

Make love.
Make war.
Make peace.

The sky is above you.
The earth is beneath you.
And water is all around you.

You are alive.

2006