Are poems a cause of hard-heartedness?

Poems and verses devoid of music are like speech: good ones are good, and bad ones are bad. They are reprehensible if they distract from what is more important. The heart hardens if it becomes preoccupied with them instead of remembering Allah and the Quran, based on the hadith (definition): "For one of you to have his belly filled with pus is better for him than to have it filled with poetry," meaning that his heart becomes filled with it, thus distracting him from the Quran. As for singing accompanied by musical instruments, it is forbidden and causes heedlessness and hardness of heart. If the poems are free of instruments but are chanted and melodized, there is no harm, provided they do not overwhelm a person or distract him from his duties. It is advisable to be wary of listening excessively to melodized poems and chants, as they may be steps of Satan leading to heedlessness and hardness of heart. One must turn towards the Quran, both in recitation and listening.