Healing Tears

Such deep pain from so many years,

Ran in the tracks of tears as they flowed,

Down over our cheeks,

And into the crumpled and shredded pieces of Kleenex

In my and my sister’s palms.

And so much garbage fell away,

In the falling tears of so many,

As my father, the patriarch of our family,

Walked down the isle of the church alone,

To the seats reserved for the grandparents.

He was frail and leaning heavily on his cane,

He sat in a pew all alone, In front of my mother.

But from his being shone so much pride,

In who we all had become,

And that all of us were together here,

In one place, at the very same time.

And tears of joy replaced those of pain,

As my brother walked with his child on his arm,

Angry words were forgotten, divorces and battles irrelevant,

As the service declared the purest of love,

Love more binding than any past ire,

That of God for his children and them for one another.