Capacity

Do I have one large enough to love?
I sometimes wonder

if the cage of my chest
is strong enough
to hold another’s heart

without casting a swift shadow of a doubt
that would raise
even the tiniest hairs
on the tips of the toes

without striking my mind’s ready gavel
announcing deeds of wrong,
and sometimes of right

without waiting for a token
or pat on the back
when I return a smile

to hold another’s heart
in a natural way
like the sky cradles so gently the sun
and the moon

at its own expense of fading through
the infinite cycle
of light
and of dark

more by A. M. LAINE

Photograph by Michael Carian