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What is this poem about?

My Heart Lies to My Soul

Although I??m fair, just, in truth
My heart lies to my soul
It hides its needs due self for others
In vain it cries, save yourself !
For you, they shall never discover
I quiet my thinking, content I be??
when a small child they place upon my knee
My face it smiles, I??ve no control
Yet, my heart bleeds, but they don??t know
What lies ahead for this wee soul? I shudder
Was one thought given to the many?
I think not! No, not any
A selfish notion set into motion
Another now is born
Trudging through life in search of itself??
battling for better only to discover,
what I now know and shudder
To do our part would be a start
My heart lies to my soul

By Faye Fleming


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Well, clearly the title and the final line give us a big clue:

In the beginning of the poem the narrator describes herself as fair and just but her heart lies in her soul. Curious phrase, to interpret it I look at the next lines. Her heart hides it needs, it cries out for her to save herself--but this is in vain, so she in some sense looses herslf to others. Her own true self though remains hidden to others, but she contents herself with her isolation and sense of pain--she seems to be submerging her needs out of a sense of emotional self preservation.

Then there is the shift. She is introduced to a small child. Her emotional mask cracks open and she responds with a smile. She thinks bringing another into this world is selfish. She reflects on this child's journey. This child's fight to change the world and eventually come to the conclusion that life is pain and isolation. Then at the end, she rationalizes these fears by saying in a sense maybe it will different for this one. The subtle change at the end is that her heart her emotional center lies to her soul the core of her being that knows the truth of life.

So, the poem is about the reflection as you grow older that life is isolation, suffering, and pain and the way you cope by holding out the hope that it will get better someday and there will be change. That we as a species will not just quietly submit to despair.

Or, I'm wrong--poetry can be tricky. Ha ha. Well, that's my interpretation.