Heart

The heat is high in the desert skies, I want to close my bloodshot eyes.
I had stared him down and sized him up, told myself 'he ain't so tough.'
But he matched my strength blow for blow, and as quick as I am, he wasn't so slow.
But I dare not unsheathe my sword, I only use it as a last resort.

There's no way I can afford to rest,
with one wrong step between me & death.
He's in front of me now- to move so fast! I fall back, startled, and hear a splash.
I sink below the ocean surface, my vision too blurred to try and focus.

I close my eyes for a watery doom, but I don't sink far before I hear a strange tune.
I sit up straight, in a grassy lot, he's off in the distance humming Mozart.
I stand up, my body is healed. But if I slip up I'll surely be killed.
He stops his noise and looks my way, a confident smile that leaves nothing to say.

I reach behind  and grab my sword.
He does the same, and says a few words:
You've come this far, you must be tough, but your strongest muscle will give out first.

I fall to my knees for the final time, I clutch my chest unwilling to die. I look up but don't see him there, was he real? Did he even care?
Maybe my muscle wasn't as weak as he said, because he felt the need to make sure it was dead.

I look down on his blade,
It protrudes from my chest.
I look back at his face, I know I've been slain.

Despite it all, I laugh at the joke-
There's a hole in my bosom to match the one in my soul.
Then I start to see black and my fingers go numb, but without a heart how did I last this long?