Look how small
her love
has made this heart:

this lump of muscle
hunkered down
& hiding out

a feral creature
shackled & impounded
bumping at its cage

of ribs
with no desire
to return

to freedom & the wild
hard work
of the hunt.

See it shrink half
from hunger half
in fear it might break

bones or slip
through the spaces
get lost & have

to fend for itself
again
remembering

her open
hand that stroked
as if to tame

& take it home
but then withdrew
abandoning

this pacing undumb
beast still aroused
& shuddering this

thumping drum
whose quickened beat
spreads loud

& far beyond
the forest she loves
me she loves its roar

goes unlistened to
me not
unheard.