"ClawHeart" by Robert Brown The Claw. The Heart. These have been my symbols For a very long time Longer than I can even Remember now Standing for Evil And for Good And for the Battle that Takes place inside every Human Soul I wore it proudly To show that I understood The Truth And that I had A Choice And that I knew what my Choice Was to be I was not alone in my thinking Others were drawn to me Wishing to take on Hearts Of their own To show the world What was important to them Or who they truly were Games, Fighting, Diving Crystal, Beauty, Hiding We were not afraid To let our souls be seen And perhaps that was the problem My heart was so visible on my sleeve Or rather my tummy That I couldn't help but feel More acutely than most The pain of the world hurt me But I bore it with a smile As if by my hurting I could Spare another that pain But each pain left its mark A Scar that never quite Healed right I didn't notice at first So strong was my love But slowly...gradually... The Scars grew until They could not be Ignored Hardening...stiffening... Stealing what made me Me And now here I sit The Claw is faded The Heart is weak And only the Scars remain ... I have failed