Bleeding Heart...

The first draft of a poem I wrote yesterday is below. Let me know what you think! ;-)

Bleeding Heart
I read a book once, about women who lived only to build one another up
To fulfill in each of them a sense of belonging, love, and worthiness
I have wondered about these women, even though they are fictional characters
Wondering if they could exist, in part, in me

I feel a kinship with all of these women, but most of all, with the one called May
Named for her mother’s love of the Spring months
Representative of hope and rebirth
With a heart so full it seemed to consume her

I sometimes think that I am May
I feel the pain of those who suffer so acutely
It is as if I too am suffering

A bleeding heart, someone once called it
If other’s hearts bleed, then mine floods
Gushing wildly with the tears and pleas
Of those who are downtrodden, oppressed, and heartbroken

May died of a broken heart
So filled by the sorrows of the world
That she simply could not hold back the dam
And the floodgates opened until she had drained all of her very being
Emptied out to God and humankind alike
The sacrifice of a pure and gentle soul

Sometimes I think that I, too, will die of heartbreak
That I cannot bear to hear and see the suffering of my people
All people

My heart is full of love and compassion
To the point where I think it should burst
Yet it is weighted with the chains of cruelty, dehumanization, and prejudice
It is my daily struggle to balance the love and the hate of the world with my heart
Before the chains around it will tighten
And cause it to simply burst into a thousand pieces

Leaving my once compassionate and caring soul
An empty chasm of apathy…