Consider the physics of the heart:
Pressure and volume in quarter note measure,
systoles and diastoles obedient to natural order,
electrified ebb and flood through chambers,
impulses igniting neurons surging, resting,
liquifying breath billions of times in a lifetime
transferring energy (we are told) like a universe,
like the history of time in miniature.
Consider the weight of the heart:
Less than a pound, though considerably more
when aching, incalculable at the point of breaking,
thus known for its infinite elasticity allowing it
to harbor sorrows that swell with time
or play host to spores of rancor that propagate
like mold in the recesses of a space before
turning to dark ravenous masses,
explaining why the Egyptians believed
in afterlife a heart was weighed against
a feather, and those souls with hearts heavier
were given to Ammit to be devoured
and hearts lighter were admitted into
the eternal bliss of the Fields of A’aru;
The Egyptians understanding (it seems)
what weighs the heart.
