Heart of Clay
For Leah

     She was an angel in disguise – the captain of the holy Host sent to
quiet my tumultuous soul,
     A cherub whose eyes shone like fire and cheeks like pale moonlight
glowed with sweet compassion and sacred ablution
     With her hands of compassion which were small and delicate and adorned
with rings of silver and diamond
     She gently resurrected the fragments of my broken life and swept up
the pieces of my shattered heart
     On her potter's wheel she began to mold, using tools that were hope
and joy and love, creating in me a new heart,
     Slowly she worked, with a mother's tenderness, reshaping my heart into
something beyond beauty –
     I noticed there beside her wheel lay another rather malformed shape,
but asking her what it might be left only awkward silences –
     Day by day she shaped my heart into what it once had been and
gradually my spirit soared to heights I'd never seen.
     With sorrow and joy hanging mingled on her face, she offered me the
heart which she had so carefully rebuilt
     I shook my head and looked at her, for now I understood – my heart was
not my own anymore – I gave it to her to keep
     Closing her palm around my heart, I knew in her hands it was safe –
then with a smile I took the wheel and began to spin the clay
     Now I saw – I realized – what she'd wanted all along – ‘twas not a
shapeless form that lay so near to her left palm
     ‘Twas her own heart! – unloved and loveless – waiting for its potter –
so with love and patience, there I sat and began to work the clay
     With greatest care I sculpted her into what I knew she could be – the
most noble of women, the sweetest of angels, the most wonderful of them
all!!
     Now I hold withing my hands the prize she's given me – it is her heart
– that treasured gift I've prayed so long to see.