Inside the Teardrop
By John Herlihy

Inside the teardrop I see elephants roaming;
Voices echo across the waters as if moaning.
The elephants take the form of a child’s size,
They invade the teardrop under any guise,
Coloring the waters with feelings of deep blue,
Until they merge into a color of another hue.

Suns and moons rise in the drop and never set,
Entire oceans rebound without offering regret.
The darkness of deep space suddenly awakens;
Universal light is born when darkness is taken.
Everything snugly contained within a single drop;
Emotions set on fire that no one can possibly stop.

Nothing discloses feeling as does a drop of tear;
We live complacently until our sorrows appear.
At once the body responds with its subtle fear;
The heart may shatter, while the eyes will smear.
The salty drop is pungent and bitter to the taste;
We seek to wipe away our tears with undue haste.

In future, when sadness arrives, let your tears flow;
Universes will be born and they will begin to glow.
While in appearance tiny, in significance truly large,
Across the raging waters of a teardrop floats a barge.
It contains all of the emotions that we humans can bear;
We accept their message and still have emotion to spare.