Hearts Out of Line

Our whole lives are strictly
linear, moving straight along, no
turning back, no going non-
linear, no tangential trajectories.
Just each day, unfolding exactly
after the one before it, without
interruption. But that's just
our lives. How great is it
that we can let our hearts out
of their cages every once in a while
and let them do somersaults,
get way out of line,
and turn our whole world
on its head? Our lives may be
linear but our hearts ache to be
quadratic, at the very least,
impetuous, and untamed.

(2006)