If my Heart was made of Man

If my heart was made of man,

It would be strong,

To shelter a woman,

Blanket her,

Assure her of my staying, when she’d wake

She’d find me praying to the labour of the land,

And my hand would always hold her

If she felt she was alone,

It would lay its hammer down beside the sundial

And the clock and it would hold her for a while,

For as long as lady needed,

If my heart was made of man,

I’d have blood enough to fight with,

I could bend the adverse shadows

From her like the petals from a flower,

She could stowaway in autumn on my current

To the lakes in my lungs,

Find the islands and lay for as long she may,

Wearing my warm breath; fond in her absence,   

And all of winter would be the humming glow

Of a distant city tied to the red horizon,

If my heart was made of man,

I could pump the future full of air,

And to it tie two chairs and disappear

And watch my children and their children shrink and shrink beneath my feet

Until the patterns of the earth painted one last warm picture that sung to my eyes

And beat one beat, one everlasting beat that I would never hear ending,

If my heart was made of man