Four Days of Weeping

Four Days of Weeping

Rain poured for forty days and forty night
The waters rose until every high hill on the earth was covered
Everything that lived on land perished in the raging floodwaters (Genesis 7:21–24)

Raging like rain — the biblical downpour
Impelling Noah to complete his ark —
My tears accumulated, splashed my feet.

While trying to prevent deep sorrow’s sea
From drowning me, I ripped up a cargo
Of dry love letters, filling anger’s holes,
Till hugs and kisses littered blameless air,
Confessional confetti — meaningless.

Noah invited animals to board
His ark in pairs, the law of two by two.
According to the Book of Genesis,
Nature decreed that to mate is our fate.

Once lovebirds envied us. Now I’m alone,
A star-crossed Juliet, whose balcony
Scene was deleted. Romeo is gone
Along with promised bundles from the stork.

I can’t shake off my feelings like breadcrumbs
Consigned to the dustpan. Nightingales lament
Until my pen draws a new pair of wings,
Inky from forty nights’ tears.  Suddenly,
Comes a new poem — my dove with a branch.

I notice floodwaters are receding.

Author: LindaAnn LoSchiavo

Photo: Ivan Oleynikov on Unsplash