Skip to main content

Eggshells: Prose Poem

Every person’s heart is surrounded by the shell of an egg. And though the shell of an egg may seem beautiful, but fragile, it is the symbol of all births and beginnings. Every woman wants to nurture the eggshell surrounding a man’s heart, but she must also want to nurture the eggshell surrounding her own heart even more, because there always comes a time for two lovers when only one eggshell remains intact. It is usually the woman’s eggshell that survives and grows stronger because a man is sometimes reckless with beautiful and fragile things. When a man is reckless, his judgement suffers, and when a man’s judgement suffers, he feels he is nothing, and he is sad, and his sadness continues to eat away at what is left of the eggshell surrounding his heart.

A man judges the world with his eyes and he believes his vision is always straight and true. A woman judges the world with her mind’s eye, as well as her eyes, and so her judgement is more tempered and true. A man must know the value of the love he feels and is prepared to share, because this is what strengthens the eggshell surrounding his heart.

A man must also accept that he is not whole of himself alone. When a man loves a woman, he shares his love of her, with her. He must learn to share his pains as well as his triumphs, and though happiness is inside all men and women, a man is sometimes afraid to seek, afraid to experience, and so he cannot live happily. And because all happiness must end for a time, a man alone is sometimes content to be just a little happy all the time, rather than being very happy only some of the time. In so doing, he risks never seeking the greater eternal happiness inside him.

From, Trees, by Mick Rooney.

Comments

POPULAR POSTS

WOKE: The Trope That Doesn't Work

WOKE - a word we now hear so often used in ridicule of others on social media commentary. But like so many tropes used against others, its user - by the mere act of using it - clearly demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of its true meaning and origin. If anything, its usage, now defines more the user, than the intended reciprocate. And its not a new word by any stretch of 21st Century meaning. It dates back more than 80 years but has only in the past few years reignited its common and increasing usage in everyday English language. ORIGIN - THE WOKE It originally dates back to a comment from an African American United Mine Workers official in 1940 (USA), stating: "Let me tell you buddy. Waking up is a damn sight harder than going to sleep, but we'll stay woke up longer." Think of all the times in exchanges online (primarily social media) that you've been described as 'woke' in a derogatory way. Ask yourselves, have you noticed how often those throwing...

THE VANISHING OF MARY BOYLE

Mary Boyle (born 14 June 1970) was a six-year-old Irish girl who disappeared on the County Donegal-County Fermanagh border on 18th March 1977. To date, her disappearance is the longest missing child case in the Republic of Ireland. The investigation into her disappearance has been beset by allegations of political intervention and police incompetence. While arrests were made over many years, nobody has ever been charged in connection with her disappearance. Mary Boyle was last seen at 3:30 pm on 18 March 1977 near her grandparents' rural farm in Cashelard, near Ballyshannon, County Donegal. The family, including Mary's mother Ann, father Charlie, older brother Paddy, and twin sister Ann, had gone to Mary's maternal grandparents' house on St Patrick's Day from their home in Kincasslagh in The Rosses, further up the coast. They stayed at the grandparents home overnight into the day of her disappearance. In total, there were eleven people at the household gathering, si...

JO JO DULLARD CASE UPDATE: Recent Arrest & Searches

On the morning of November 11th, 2024, Gardai case investigators served an arrest warrant on a man aged 55 under suspicion of the murder of Jo Jo Dullard who disappeared 29 years ago. The man was detained for questioning at Kildare Garda Station under the provisions of section 4 of the Criminal Justice Act 1984. No charges have yet been brought forward and he is the first suspect to be arrested in the case. The Dullard family were made aware of the arrest shortly after 7 am this morning. (He was later released without charge the following day and a file is being prepared for the Irish DPP). Currently gardai are executing two separate search warrants on properties and land located at Ballyhook over the Kildare/Wicklow border. Early Tuesday afternoon, the 55-year-old-man, from a prominent Wicklow political family was released without charge. Gardai believe he was the last person to see Jo Jo Dullard alive and from very early on in the case investigation he was a person-of-interest befor...