Things That Make Hearts Break

Tupac begins with a seemingly general inventory of sorrow, but the actual accusation lands only at the very end. Things That Make Hearts Break appears in the second part of The Rose That Grew from Concrete, “Nothing Can Come Between Us”. Built like a list, the poem holds back its decisive statement until the very last line.

The list begins in the misery of the world and aims at “you”

The first stanza lists what breaks hearts: a pretty smile, a deceiving laugh, people who dream with open eyes. Then the focus shifts to the social realm. Tupac names lonely children, unanswered cries for help, and souls who have given up all hope. In a few words, he places private disappointment and social misery side by side, without weighting one over the other.

The second stanza continues the list with fairy tales that never come true and selfish people who lie. In the very last line, the poem pivots: it means selfish people like “you”. A general reflection turns into a direct accusation aimed at a person who disappointed the speaker. Who that is, the text does not reveal; there is no dedication.

The late twist shapes Tupac’s early poems

The device of the late twist is typical of Tupac’s early poems. The Power of a Smile also first gathers general observations and only relates them to another person at the end. In Things That Make Hearts Break, the movement runs in reverse: there the other person heals, here they wound.

Striking are the lonely children and the unanswered cries in what is essentially a private poem. Tupac never completely blocked out social hardship, not even in matters of love. This defining trait later shaped his songs, in which personal stories and social conditions always belonged together. This connection is an interpretation, not a statement by Tupac about this poem.

There is no exact date. According to the preface by Afeni Shakur, the poems in the book date from the years 1989 to 1991.

More about the book and all poems in the introduction.