Dear Heart - by Hayley Gait-Golding

 Tweet      

Dear Heart,

I'd like it if you'd tell me
How you measure love.
Do you deal in ounces and quarters?
Or stroke it with kid gloves?

How do you pick who gets it
Because I'd really like a say
And why is it that some people
Get more and more each day?

Another thing I'd like to know
Is how love measures time?
Is it founded in an instant?
Then lasts a whole lifetime?

Does it grow and grow your whole life through
So I have more and more
Or is there just a set amount
You get at birth then store?

What happens if it’s stolen?
Or if I cease to love
Does it all come back untarnished?
With interest on the above.

How can I know its importance?
Do you give it certain ranks?
Could I say that’s 1st or 2nd class?
Like I do with postage stamps.

Is true love like in stories?
Like old fashioned fairy tales
Cinderella meets Prince Charming
And only love prevails

Why is it then that nowadays?
Love sometimes takes the course
Of starting off with marriage
But ending in divorce

Is love equal in proportions?
For families and for friends
For husbands, wives and children
Where does it ever end?

To let me know what’s going on
Lets strike a little deal
Beat slowly for the phoneys
And fast if it’s for real!

By Hayley Gait-Golding
Allestree, Derby

This poem was selected as a winner of a nationwide poetry competition run by Marriott Hotels in March 2011.