“There is more than one way to burn a book. And the world is full of people running about with lit matches.”

We‘re all fools,” said Clemens, “all the time. It‘s just we‘re a different kind each day. We think, I‘m not a fool today. I‘ve learned my lesson. I was a fool yesterday but not this morning. Then tomorrow we find out that, yes, we were a fool today too. I think the only way we can grow and get on in this world is to accept the fact we‘re not perfect and live accordingly.

The heart says as it is, only whose heart? The story builds up to a frantic finale in which the narrator panics that the truth of what he has done is revealed, that everyone can hear the heart that ought to be silent. It's a gradual descent into madness, all the while the narrator tries to convince us that he is sane. Macabre, creepy and poetic.