"The Doors" To My Heart

In her poem “The Heart,” Jill Alexander Essbaum provides insight into matters of heart. Metaphorically, she shows that while love may be simple, there are complications along the way. It seems somewhat odd that she would describe the structure of the heart as “four simple chambers” because the heart is typically depicted as a complex, intricate organ. The next line of the poem conveys some of this complexity with the image of a “thousand complicated doors.” Essbaum employs the doors as a metaphor, as they appear to symbolize options, paths, or choices made in life with regard to love. Love is a complicated, messy ordeal that is full of “doors” waiting to be knocked on and opened. 

To me, Essbaum is telling her readers to take a chance because every unopened door represents a missed opportunity.  In the last line, she wistfully suggests that one of these doors belongs to an unknown “yours.” The “yours” may be a reader or recipient of her poem, who has not opened a door. She does not tell her reader what lies beyond that door but perhaps this mystery is a lesson in itself. How can one understand and appreciate love if they don’t take a chance at what lies behind every door?

Through her poem, Essbaum transforms three simple lines into a guide into the heart’s role in love. But, what is the role of the numbers with respect to the heart? I was intrigued by the appearance of a number in each line of the poem. Four, thousand, and one provide the poem with a unique form of parallelism. I wonder why Essbaum selected these particular numbers or whether the numbers have some hidden meaning. For now, we are left to wonder what one door, among a thousand doors,  within four chambers holds behind it.