4 Hearts

An arrangement of what used to be called emotion,
they are hanging like pictures
because they are
four hearts hanging like pictures of emotions.

These hearts here, hanging,
look like memories of telephone calls
or letters or scars carved into trees,
soft aspen trembling above the snow-line.

Lacquered thickly, they shine reflection
and put back some light into this dull air.
Glazed over, their beating has been fossilized and
only now reveal their tortured contractions.

Four hearts hanging and hung
against the softening plaster that
takes the prints from the hands
of those who would lean in for a closer look.