You Cannot Break a Poet's Heart

You Cannot Break a Poet's Heart

A poet cannot be broken-hearted
When a dear one dies, she writes a requiem
When a lover is untrue, she writes a sonnet
When 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.

Beloved by Lois Tschetter Hjelmstad