I Know My Heart Has Lied Before

A vow for eternity rarely begins with an admission: one’s own heart has lied before. It is precisely with this rupture that I Know My Heart Has Lied Before opens in the second part of The Rose That Grew from Concrete, “Nothing Can Come Between Us”. In the book, it follows Elizabeth, which is also listed as A Different Love, and immediately precedes From First Glance.

Because His Heart Has Lied Before, He Swears to God

Now, however, the speaker insists, his heart speaks sincerely. It tells of an invisible bond of friendship that formed in secret. Because he senses that this very confession coming from his mouth might be hard to believe, he swears to God that it is true: both are friends for eternity, and he will always love the other.

At the end, there is no further stanza, but rather a kind of signature: “With All My Heart & Spirit”, with “Spirit” placed in quotation marks. This reads like the close of a letter and serves as a reminder that many of these poems originated as personal messages to specific people.

A Secret Bond, and the Contradiction on the Next Page

The motif of a secret bond connects the poem to A Love Unspoken, in which a love grows precisely in secret. Who is meant remains open, as there is no dedication. According to the preface by Afeni Shakur, the poems were written between 1989 and 1991; this one is not dated more specifically.

The juxtaposition in the book is intriguing: here the speaker confesses that his heart has lied before. In the immediately following From First Glance, dated February 1, 1990, he claims by contrast that his heart never lies. Whether this contradiction is intentional cannot be said. It shows, however, a young author who was constantly re-examining his own feelings.

The introduction provides an overview of the entire book and all the poems.