a pansy shaped heart

if you were a pansy shell ...
would you give up your flower shaped heart
share its beauty with the world
its petals perfectly formed
circling
radiating
from the center of your soul?

or would you keep it hidden
buried in sea water and sand
neath a surface of calcium and spines and salt

might you linger until your death,
left adrift in the tides
till you washed upon the shore,
to be pried open by Poseidon's detritus

or would you rest there, at the edge of life
on the edge of the world
content to wait
for the eager hands of a passing stranger
to scoop you up,
and take you away ...
to break you open, and to see the bloom
you had carried all along

but why ...
why wouldn't you, why couldn't you
choose now,
at this very time and in this exact place
to open your chest
and unfurl your petaloid heart

to invite the sun
and the rain
and the honey-eating birds,
the ones you love
and those you don't
to watch you flower, unfold and grow
to breath in your fragrance
and delight in your color,
just because.

because you,
you have a glowing,
pansy shaped,
heart!