There once was a girl
Who was foully blessed
With a pulsating heart
Outside of her chest.

Samantha was a gentle soul,
And though it seems unfair,
Every which-a-way she went,
People would ogle and stare.

Samantha was born as a freak, you see,
And there was really no doubt.
The doctor was scared and announced with disgust:
“Sam’s heart is inside out.”

Indeed it was, in the literal term,
And it was quite hard to be
A freak with her heart on the front of her shirt
For everyone to see.
So when young Sam went off to school,
As she was boarding the bus,
She received sneers and horrible leers,
And faces of disgust.
The driver, the children, the parents could see
The rhythm of every thump,
Each thought on her mind, the emotions on hand,
And they watched as it beat and it jumped.
It was quite an odd sight, with it thumping away,
(Although Sam is kindly and smart).
Her every dream and innermost thoughts
Were revealed by her extroverted heart.

Some say you wear your heart on your sleeve
Like an ugly, revealing tattoo.
Poor Sam could do nothing; she was born that way
With her heart right smack dab in your view.

So all throughout the following day,
Samantha felt far too exposed
Since every rude stranger would stare at her heart,
With her dreams and emotions enclosed.

Her first day of school was more like a circus,
As kids would trip, yell at and taunt her.
She’d be shy, look away, going on with her day,
But the rest of her life this would haunt her.

The next day some bullies came over to her;
One said in a hiss like a snake:
“I’ve got me a bat and some needles as well,
So let’s get that girl’s big heart to break.”

They poked her and pricked her and jabbed at her heart,
Until their sore bodies were worn;
They tried hammers and nails and pushed her against rails,
But her heart just refused to be torn.

Samantha just sighed and ran out of the school,
The pain in her wet eyes alone;
She escaped that place and fled right to the bay;
Her own personal safe haven zone.

She walked to the grotto; kicked stones in the sand,
And listened to seagulls’ soft song
Of mourning defeat, and it sounded so sweet,
For with life, she could not get along.

She sat on a rock; cried her troubles away
Paving problems with porcelain tears.
As she basked in her sorrows of all of her dreams,
At the mercy of each of her peers.

From that day on she returned every night,
Going back to that spot on the bay.
And heard her heart thumping, it made her so mad;
That heart took all Sam’s dreams away.

One night as she went to depart from the beach,
To return to her life void of choice,
A sound, most peculiar, drifted toward her-
The sound of another one’s voice.

“Hey,” it proclaimed, “Now, don’t be afraid,
I know you as well the sea;
I’ve watched you each day, if from quite far away,
And your troubles mean something to me.”

And that was the start of a long-lasting love,
On Samantha it shed some light.
Her dear new friend Dan helped her through her hard times;
He respected and knew of her plight.

Samantha showed Danny her music and love,
The world through her crystal blue eyes,
She played her guitar for her only best friend,
As the seagulls trilled melancholy cries.

Samantha and Danny, inseparable friends,
For now; for the most of their life,
They had braved time together, and now they were grown,
But one day, shock tore like a knife.

It was at the grotto by the bay
That he told Sammie his plot,
“I’ve never loved you; it was all just for laughs!”
‘Twas her now-weakened heart he forgot.

Samantha stood frozen in uttermost grief
From losing her only best friend.
Her heart started shaking; very clearly it was breaking,
And there was no way it could mend.

Samantha thought she had found love that one night,
At the grotto by the bay.
But then her heart, it tore apart
And promptly she wasted away.

Samantha, with the heart of gold,
Who never could love any more
Was now just the seashells and sand in the tides,
Flowing in waves on the shore.

When you walk by the bay, with the soft lapping waves
Listen close to the odes they are bringing.
You’ll hear seagull song, and quite before long,
You’ll hear Samantha’s soft singing.

And Dan, to this day, as he goes on his way,
Walks between waves as they part;
And he says to himself as he looks to the east:
“Nothing like a freshly broken heart.”