You Cannot Break a Poet's Heart

A poet cannot be broken-heartedWhen a dear one dies, she writes a requiemWhen a lover is untrue, she writes a sonnetWhen the world is cruel, she writes satiric verse

A poet can take all the grief from her heart(the pain that can swell and break a heart)and write it in fine black lines on starchy white paper

Oh, no, you cannot break a poet’s heart.

The above poem is one of the first serious poems that 16-year-old Lois wrote many, many years ago.

Excerpted from Beloved by Lois Tschetter Hjelmstad.

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