Christopher Hansard: [An Open Heart: Dedicated to Riadh and those who have been friends and whose hearts remain open]

In the history of all mankind there are those who are remembered

for they searched for an open heart, and many too, unknown by name,

and how they wanted peace for all humanity, and yet they were the most reviled

for the open heart exposes the tarnish and the chrome;

for the open heart is the greatest threat to those who stay within the comforts of their prison

an open heart is on the only frontier worth discovering

for all other discoveries are found there…

I have seen it in snowfall and in rain,

in sacred smoke and burning towns, the hidden marks of the open heart

in the wise prayers of a Cree medicine woman who knows the origins of the gods

the mountain climbing of a inspired shaman, in the herbal wisdom of a bearded light seeker

in the mercurial beauty of a woman who knows the weaver in the ancient cave

in the call of the whale in the night

in the great dragons that live in the earth of North America,

in the coming of White Buffalo, a great herd thundering down the main street near where you live,

in the rushing of the Spring Equinox

the Open Heart is to be found

all are seeking the same..

Call the Open heart , call it now, ask for it

then your life falls into place, a beat in the open heart of Life

One heart, many beats

In the quiet of Winter and the glow of Spring,

in the shyness of Summer, in the patience of Autumn

An Open Heart waits

In the voices of the crowd and the call to arms

in the tears of loss and of joy

The Open Heart holds all and can not die or fade away