Alice Walker, Blicke vom Tigerrücken, Gedichte English-Deutsch, Rowohlt, 1995, page 24
Never offer your heart to someone who eats hearts
Never offer your heart
to someone who eats hearts
who finds heartmeat
delicious
but not rare
who sucks the juices
drop by drop
and bloody-chinned
grins
like a God.
Never offer your heart
to a heart gravy lover.
Your stewed, overseasoned
heart consumed
he will sop up your grief
with bread
and send it shuttling
from side to side
in his mouth
like bubblegum.
If you find yourself
in love
with a person
who eats hearts
these things
you must do:
Freeze your heart
immediately.
Let him – next time
he examines your chest –
find your heart cold
flinty and unappetizing.
Refrain from kissing
lest he in revenge
dampen the spark
in your soul.
Now,
sail away to Africa
where holy women
await you on the shore –
long having practiced the art
of replacing hearts
with God
and Song.
pamelablog 
post 43 | where i write things said,
June 24, 2012 at 1:10 pm
[…] should not accommodate those who would just as soon step on me as help me up, if/when i ever fall. eaters of heart. eaters of soul (which i always know instantly, but yet never listen). now i need only bring my […]
pamelablog said,
June 24, 2012 at 5:57 pm
Thank you for pinging me back!
Pamela