Sara without an H > this collection: Poems > Warm Hands Cold Heart > The Juggler > Form A Queue > Lamé > The Alibi > Attention Seeker > Consider It Brought > Genie In A Jam Jar >> next collection: Fragments Of Hell

Warm Hands Cold heart

(written 11 February 2014)

You know, like, when your hands are cold
And suddenly get warm again,
They start to burn and throb and scald
As blood rushes back into them? 

They hurt because conserving heat
Made blood rush from extremities
To warm the core, so hands and feet
Lose oxygen, and as they freeze

They hurt but you don't notice that
Because they're numb with cold. And when
They thaw and get sensation back
And hurt, d'you go outside again

And get them cold to stop the pain?
Of course you don't, you understand
The burn will stop when you regain
The blood flow to your thawing hand. 

So when you tell me your heart aches
And fret about the likely cause
And worry it's at risk of breaks,
I wonder if it merely thaws?

Your heart's been pained so long a time
But frozen so you didn't know,
And now you've come into the warm,
Your heart will thaw and hurt you so. 

Your answer is to rush outside,
Refrigerate yourself once more
To numb your heart, and woe betide
The person you say made it sore. 

But lack of oxygen's to blame,
So, hot or cold, you need to start
To brave the burn and feed the flame
That reignites your frozen heart.

© Sara Nicola Ruth 

background to the poem

This is what I wrote before I started to compose the poem on 11 February 2014 but I can’t find the webpage I got the quote in italics from a decade ago.

“Why do your hands hurt as they get warmed up after being cold?

“When you’re in the cold, your body will conserve heat in its core by reducing blood flow and therefore warmth in the extremities, including your hands. This is known as ischemia, and because the hands are getting less oxygen, they react as if injured and release signals that cause inflammation and pain. While you are in the cold, you probably won’t feel very much of this because your hands are numb. But as they warm up again, the pain signals get through to the brain, intensified by the throbbing of blood returning to the hands.

“That’s a good analogy. The hands and the heart. Cold hands warm heart.” 

Instead wiki now says: “Ischemia is a vascular disease involving an interruption in the arterial blood supply to a tissue, organ, or extremity that, if untreated, can lead to tissue death.”

Sara without an H > this collection: Poems > Warm Hands Cold Heart > The Juggler > Form A Queue > Lamé > The Alibi > Attention Seeker > Consider It Brought > Genie In A Jam Jar >> next collection: Fragments Of Hell