Stolen Heart's Shadow
Glimpsed it just there in the small stream of sun
Wedged its way in through tightly drawn shades
Scurried across the floor to fall, broken, at my edge
My drawn, no trespassers, no hunters, no you, line
Crossed boundaries like a salmon swimming upstream
That stolen heart's shadow insinuating into my world
Considered what it meant--that little dark thing on my floor
Thought about lifting the curtains even peeking out once
Remembered the lies, the hurts, the cruel jibes, the fakes
Couldn't do it. Just. Couldn't. Do. It. I can't stomach the pain.
Stepped over that stolen heart's shadow never looking down.
Drew the window covers more tightly. Hung another black sheet.
No shadows. No light. No hearts. No thief. I blockade myself in.
Safe from the shadow of what used to be my own naked heart.
Arwen Lynch-Poe, September 8, 2018
I wrote that poem based on a word rattle. That's what I call it when a phrase rattles around in my brain until I just have to write it down. It isn't based on anything current. As a writer, I have learned how to mine emotions (mine and others) to create.
Ukiyoe Tarot, (c) USGames Systems Inc, 1988, used with permission. No further right granted.
This poem was written in one sitting (quite literally in 10 minutes). I haven't edited or tweaked or polish. I serve it up raw to introduce a Tarot deck to you. This deck was part of the reason this phrase got stuck in my head. I was talking about three decks then tried combing the names. I came up with Stolen Heart's Shadow.
The decks? The Naked Heart Tarot by Jillian C. Wilde (see my flipthrough video here.) The Stolen Child Tarot by Monica Knighton (see her Kickstarter here.) and The House of Shadows Lenormand by Monica Bodirsky (find that here.)
What about you? Do you ever get words stuck in your head? To link this back to Tarot even more firmly, this poem might be a Three of Swords poem since it is all about feeling the hurt, hiding from the hurt, not processing the hurt.