Open-hearted, we say.
Big-hearted, we think,
of those who are kind,

who seem to have naturally
warm hearts, kind hearts,
and yes, soft hearts,

which is, when we
think about it,
all of us, really,

calling up our most
compassionate selves,
our charitable selves.

Even those who appear
the most hard-hearted,
who seem unresponsive

to the needs of others,
who look unforgiving, unkind,
with hearts of stone,

if we pause and open
our own wounded hearts,
we might find in them

a softness like an
ephemeral sky heart
wandering lonely as

a cloud, as the poem
says. Fleeting, perhaps,
but there, waiting

to be admired like
“a host, of golden daffodils”
by the tender-hearted,

who, even in the face
of one devoid of warmth,
take a breath, choose

to respond with love.

•••

The golden daffodils are William Wordsworth’s from his best known
poem published in 1807, “I wandered lonely as a Cloud.”