Heart Strings

My emotions are like an open book,
Open to be read by all who care to look.
Laying there smack in the middle,
Is something I need to keep apart.

I got a lock to close this chapter,
But I dare not throw away the key.
It dangles around my neck for all to see,
But I know not why it happens to me.

Many people have gotten close,
But all have ended with the same note.
Their hearts guarded by walls of trust,
None of which I had trouble holding the key.

But my heart has started to turn dark,
It's flesh hardening like tree bark.
I wonder if it still beats deep within my chest,
For all it knows is pain and ache.

Am I here just to be tormented with dreams,
Or can I come within inches just to fall from it's grasp?
A small family is what I desire,
One of my own isn't too much to admire?

A wife whom loving comes easy,
And a daughter that haunts my dreams.
A single fire burns deep in my cold heart,
The one that isn't easy to reach.

None but a small glimmer of hope,
A small ray of light escapes it's shell.
The one nobody else has seen,
For it is one that nobody has grasped the key.