Halls of the Dark Muse

Black Pearl

I pause and listen
for the sound of my beating heart
but there is no answer
but the stillness of no sound.

My heart is a black pearl
sunk beneath the depths
it is not buoyant and cannot
float above,

yet it is not faithless
and tries to swim in frigid waters
with a fading pulse,

but pearls have not wings
and mine is not white
with purity, brine of salt
crusts upon the edges

while awaiting
to be plucked
up from the shelf upon
which it rests, in that place
of menacing eyeless fish
for there the light does not shine.

My heart is a black pearl
upon the ocean's floor,
chucked from its shell
defenseless within its own
hardened case.

It cannot swim
so it must always be sinking,
trying to breathe beneath the pressure,
hidden well, it does not shine
like those that gleam in all white.

I try and listen for its
faint beating,
but the silence
and my echoes return,
no longer flesh and blood
my heart is a black pearl.