My heart is a flask With an ill-fitting lid

My heart is a flask

With an ill-fitting lid

It brims with tears un-wept

And so I learned

It is the heart that cries

But also the heart

That fears

The heart fears

Among other things

The onset of night

Perhaps because

Tears, like gems

Rare and precious

Are born in dark depths

Then struggle

With all their tiny might

To burst forth

Into the worldly light

Wracking us as they do-so

Wringing out our hurt

Once brought to light

Tears have served their ends

Carrying our pains

In distilled form

Up, out, away

Beyond inner experience

Into the shared realm

Of what we call ‘the world’

There, once cried

They no longer have value

And are hurriedly brushed away

Often leaving

A new sense of self in their wake