choose

make your choice
how will you live
with or without hope

will you shun your heart
will you deny you dream
will you extinguish
like a candle’s low lit flame
what hope you hold
will you allow it
your heart
to fall from you
cold to the ground
frozen from your chest
with all your dreams
to shatter before you
exploding in a fray
of frozen shards
into blood frost—

you will be dead
though you walk
interact
seeking blindly
to find a replacement
for your wasted heart
the heart you denied
and allowed to fall
from your being
a block of ice
the heart you left
in the vacuity
of indifference
anger
hate…
or dread—

you will be but a husk
a container
of emptiness

make your decision
live numb
and without hope
dreamless and lifeless
or accept the pain
that accompanies a living heart
full of hope
an occasional broken dream
but the joy
of dreams fulfilled
hopes realized

make your choice
live or die