They do not heal themselves
with the passing of time
which erases time only
but not pain and the memory
of pain.
Let untreated
heartwounds become
sores
scabs
scars
ugly reminders of flawed love.
Some men believe
woman were born
toendure
to understand
to forgive
to be irrational in all things.
It is that way,
they tell us,
with the pull of the moon.
They will not learn
perhaps cannot learn
that a woman's heart
damaged by multiple wounds
beats faintly
and then
not
at
all