A Muscle

The heart is a muscle,
it shrinks, it gets bigger,
it beats faster and faster
then it stops,
it might skip a beat.

A muscle that sometimes
gets rusty,
that forgets,
forgets how to love,
how to forgive,
how to embrace.

A muscle that sometimes
gets reminders
and feels pain.

Older hearts, jaded hearts,
almost never get surprised,
but then it happens,
it is frightening,
marvelous,
almost like the very
first
time.