Little Heart Holes

This is for Tink

"Like a hole in the heart."

"I've lived a long time....and you know what? It doesn't get any easier. You'd think it would get easier. But it doesn't."

"After a while you get to know your holes,....you can put your finger in them, feel the inside, know how deep, what's still tender, what's scarred over."

"This might sound strange, but it's true,...."

........"It's as if they become your friends. They're yours, and nobody can take them away from you. Your little heart holes."

"Do you think this could be my last hole, please?" .......... "It feels like enough."

"Probably not,"........."But try to think of it differently. Like a badge."

"A Badge?"

"That's right. By the time they call your number, you want a heart full of holes,"

........"What else you gonna have to show for your life?"

From Hole in the Heart by Christopher Marquis