The Struggle Within

There lies this conflict that's forever going on inside me
My Mind routinely has a clear, rational grasp of the situation at hand
While my Heart is always deeply confused, yet very persuasive
My Mind tells my Heart that it's stupid, but my Heart doesn't care
It has these visions, beautiful little dreams
And it would do anything to make just one into reality

When my Heart is on a mission it's in full control
My Mind knows that trying to manage my Heart
is a useless waste of energy once it's on a roll

The only time my Mind truly prevails is when my Heart is broken
but that's such a calamity it's like being king of nothing
So my Mind will always try to fix my Heart when it breaks
even though it knows it will lose command
the moment my Heart is even partially restored

They both need each other but neither will admit
they're too focused on each other's shortcomings to realize
that it takes them both to make me whole
Perhaps because so seldom it is they see me that way
though which is cause, or which is effect, I can never tell

My Mind thinks my Heart is just a reckless vagabond
That never really knows what it wants
Yet would squander everything for which they've worked
in an instant without thinking
in exchange for the mere chance of some shining moment
it can't begin to explain
or flight of fancy it won't even pretend to understand

My Heart thinks my Mind is a stuffed shirt, a kill-joy
That can never let go of the worst case scenario
long enough to imagine the best
That never goes along with gambling everything
for fear of devastation that comes with losing
And that it exists mainly to say, "I told you so..."

For inevitably it comes,
time after time after bloody awful time
My Heart's little Utopian schemes come falling down
Crashing and burning
leaving the ashes and rubble
with which my Mind is left to deal
and my Heart so soon forgets

Poor foolish Heart, for all it extends, if only it knew
Fate is sole master of its destiny
Everything it's ever dared to deem success
has been in fact little more than random chance
It will never see the many times it's been left alone
for the failures that they are
nor reconcile the pain they bring

My Heart will never accept the harsh reality
though my Mind is well aware
For try as it might, as time has passed to tell
my Heart has the power to change nothing
it has moved no one enough to cherish it
least of all, those for whom it will never cease to care


-Mark McGinty