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.

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Mick Rooney | Journalist & Broadcaster

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