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TEARS
I saw a tear escape her eye…
when she whispered out his name
and I remember thinking why…
and wondering what tragedy she overcame.
She suffered a loss I did not know…
a loss she couldn’t disguise
It happened a long time ago…
I could see it in her eyes.
I imagine a tear is how our heart speaks
when we can’t find words to explain
when a memory has made us weak…
when we’re overcome with pain.
I wonder when we hold back our tears…
suppress even one teardrop
If it’s because we have a hidden fear…
once they start…our tears won’t stop.
That once the dam is broken…
and our tears start falling down
a terror goes unspoken…
that in our own tears…we will drown.
For suffering sometimes fall like rain…
a word, a smell, a thought can bring it on
and we’re reminded by our pain
how grief is not a sprint but a marathon.
Perhaps that’s why we have an ocean of tears…
for in any dark days we have ahead
when a memory stirs and grief appears
we’ll have unending tears to shed.
I wonder…how many of us harbor a fear
that at the end of any minute…any day
a relentless stream of our own tears
are but one memory away?
At the time I offered her a smile…
to give her strength for a sadness I’ve never known
knowing all the while
some griefs we’re meant to bear alone.
