How much do you love me?

Somebody once asked me. ‘How much do you love me?'
I said, ‘This much,'
And stretched out my arms as far as they would go.
'Is that all?' they said.
So I stretched further, expanding my chest and reaching as far as I could.
But still this wasn't enough for them.
Once again I stretched,
This time so far back that my knuckles met behind me.
At this point my skin began to split,
My ribs began to crack,
My chest tore open,
My heart burst out
And fell to the floor.
We both looked at it as it became cooler and cooler
And more still and more still
Until finally it was cold and dead.
Then a crowd of strangers appeared
And one by one they approached.
But because they didn't recognise my heart
They trampled over the it.
I have learnt from this
Never to show somebody how much I love them.

By Aiden Shaw

Nisshin.