HEARTWISE

for Joseph Chilton Pearce


We have three brains within our heads, each part
More capable of making higher sense;
The fourth part of our brain lies in the heart
The highest seat of our intelligence.

Yet that’s the one we’re least inclined to use,
Preempted by reptilian violence

And mammalian emotion, which both fuse
Into a baleful culture, dark and dense.

Enlightenment awaits that heavy heart
When we can learn to think more feelingly,
Knowing the whole of which we’re all a part,
United by a soulful empathy.

While thinking with our heads will do us in,
Clear heartwise thought may save us from that sin.

*