Heart and Heart

By Noah Humphrey
Yale Divinity School

Heart and Heart

If I wore my heart on my sleeve I would die of blood lost
Not from the family ties desiccating like falling trees
Embracing the cold
No, losing the ones closest to my heart and saying under a bonfire
That the same wounds that closed the door to my gatherings
Were the same transactions that made me run around in a mask
Unable to accept change
Satisfied that when the rain hits the falling leaves
And all the compost is gathered
I can run my hands through the foliage and say grace
Grace for the children looking for teachers in a understaffed and underfunded community
Grace for the Native homeowners near the ocean forced to sell their homes
All to look forward to a 1.7-million-dollar wave pool in the middle of the ocean
I look back at the ones in the ground in front of me and I reflect
Not on the fall season
Or the falls that I have taken
But the lives that were never able to be fulfilled the way they should be
Trapped in a dimension where brutality means paradise
Oil is considered tap water
Lands taken without consideration
Children’s faces plastered on imported milk cartons with the actual children trafficked
All around the world with those saying paradise is a place to be
And the erosion of the land from bitter soil, thousands of tons never placed
You then look at my love life as if embracing the cold made me the person I am
No, the hugs and the reciprocation of aloha is always there
You just never saw the scars on my sleeve
Because I wore a straitjacket over it with the words aloha and faux ho'oponopono

About the artist
My name is Noah Humphrey, a third-year MDiv candidate at Yale Divinity School. I love doing community outreach, expanding my knowledge of medicine for my entrance to chiropractic school in 2024, and writing poetry. My major academic interests are indigenous healing and holistic care research. Outside of that I also help out as a volunteer chaplain for the Yale football team and tutor youth online. My ultimate goal is to become a pastor and a chiropractor that utilizes prayer. As a current settler of the sovereign nation of Hawai’i, I want to be a light and advocate for different communities.

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