for my wife Carroll

For you love I am glad to wear
my heart upon my sleeve
but this one morning
there it was
up on the screen
resembling a fetus
on an ultrasound
pulsing and burbling
like a creature
from the depths
indistinct but showing
tiny valves that flapped
in sequence
seeming nothing more
than flimsy bits of thread

I find it hard to think
my life depends
on their precise
uninterrupted movement
but now I've seen them
work to whoosh the blood along
these little valves
seem a true miracle
of evolution
like lilliputian workers
in the factory
that is my heart
they labor tirelessly
churning out time
this precious time
I have to spend with you