Kintsugi – More beautiful having been broken

I’d like to think that this is true of hearts
but I’m not really sure

I heard a story the other day about a man who,
during the Second World War, on his first leave away,
went home with his buddy to Kansas.

While he was there he met his friend’s sister.
They decided on their first date to get married.
They did wait until after the war and by then
they had gotten to know each other through letters,
his family and her family had become close
and everyone was pleased about the marriage.

He was 89 when he told us this story.
You could tell he was still in love with Fran.
In love then and in love still.

She was no longer a part of his daily life but
he had been part of her life until the day she died.

How would that feel?
To fall in love when your heart had never been broken?
To love that person for seven decades?

Once I made a list of men I had known,
dated, had sex with and loved.

Some hurt me, some left me,
some I left & some, I’m sure, felt hurt by me.

I was surprised at the number –
the number of cracks in a broken heart.

Can my heart be more beautiful because of the cracks?

Exposing my tender self,
experiencing love and pain,
joy and sadness,
vulnerability and anger –
growing from the richness and depth
of all those feelings.

That must be the gold.

Each person
set in gold
holding my heart together.