In an email to the Source, St. Thomas resident Corinne Van Rensselaer noted that she wrote this poem 10 years ago, on June 12, 2016. “And yet, in our community and in our world today, it is ever more relevant today, June 18, 2026,” she said.
I am shot through my heart
Paradise bleeding
Hatred feeding
Fear seeding
Love needing … space in our human heart
Children dying
Hatred flying
Fear spying
Love crying … for room in our human heart
Guns shooting
Hatred sprouting
Fear looting …
Uprooting the Love in our human heart
Humans foundering
Hatred thundering
Fear plundering …
Plundering the Love in our human heart
Bigots dividing
Hatred conniving
Fear conspiring …
Poisoning the Love in our human heart
Ignorance winning
Hatred chilling
Fear grinning
Love spilling … draining from our human heart
Oneness failing
Hatred regaling
Fear nailing …
Impaling our Love to a shattered cross
My Love must rise
My Love must soar
My Love must beat …
Beat the hatred bedded in our human heart
My Love must spread
My Love must touch
My Love must heal …
Mend the wounds in our human heart
My Love must sing
My Love must dance
My Love must paint …
Paint the colors of the rainbow on our human heart
Here is my Love
I hand you my punctured heart …
My Love is promise
My Love is hope
My Love is endless
My Love is for you
My Love is for me
My Love is for all …
I am one … I am Love
I dwell in our human heart …
Seek me
Choose me
Wear me
Share me
Live with me
Pour me … into every gaping wound
Into every bullet hole of hatred
For I am Love …
And I dwell in our human heart …
Always …
— Corinne Van Rensselaer has been a resident of the Virgin Islands since 1982.
