A billion hearts beat just like mine, <br />With barely hope to live, <br />With no-one as my Valentine, <br />Despite the love I'd give... <br />And dulled and dimmed the light within, <br />With intermittent glow, <br />That's overlapped with bones and skin <br />Still warmed by my blood flow... <br /> <br />A billion hearts beat just like mine, <br />When beauty stands nearby, <br />It's like I'm drunk on sparkling wine, <br />Yet halt the tears I'd cry... <br />For loneliness that chills the soul <br />Until it's cold as ice, <br />Is strong enough to take control <br />And make the mind think twice... <br /> <br />A billion hearts beat just like mine <br />When fear is way too near, <br />As if on terror it would dine <br />And linger still right here... <br />But courage swells to make a stand, <br />To intervene and guard, <br />Such that I feel God take my hand, <br />Till fear is all but barred... <br /> <br />A billion hearts beat just like mine, <br />Affection still to crave, <br />To sweeten every trace of brine, <br />Perchance this life to save... <br />God knows if I will one day wed, <br />This secret hurts me still, <br />For who am I, for whom Christ bled, <br />A servant to God's will? <br /> <br />A billion hearts beat just like mine, <br />Like Christ's did on His Cross, <br />With every heartbeat as the sign <br />We share a sense of loss... <br />Companionship and friendship, too, <br />Each heart must hunger these, <br />Till some sweetheart says, 'I love you! ' <br />Our hunger cannot cease... <br /> <br /> <br />Denis Martindale, copyright, October 2013.<br /><br />Denis Martindale<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-hungry-heart/
