Dry Rain
When Dad passed away,
I was a wailing shell.
There was no goodbye,
no tidy ending —
not like the movies.
There’s nothing pretty
about a howling heart.
And I keep thinking
about the airport,
last time I saw him,
you know — hugs, and I said,
‘See you soon. Love you, Dad.’
But the former won’t happen;
he vanished into those words,
the latter’s still true though,
and those tears,
well, they fall
like dry rain now.
written for dVerse Poets
A powerful & emotional write for sure. Yours, though, was not a false good-bye, it was love interrupted, & that happens to all of us. I was very close to my grandfather, seeing him annually. Each time I left, he would say, “I suppose this will be the last time we see each other.” He repeated that mantra for 9 years; on the tenth year, at 89, he did slip away; seems like yesterday, there in 1988.
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Yes, Glenn, a love interrupted. I like the thought of that. I’ll keep that sentiment in mind. Thank you.
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This is heartbreaking. I hope he knows the lovely words you’ve given him.
line 1: passed
love, ViVx
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I know exactly what you mean. Exactly.
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This poem really struck a chord. I guess I think about this as well… those sudden goodbyes. Or the goodbyes we didn’t know were the last goodbye. Awesome job. I really enjoyed this.
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I’m glad your enjoyed it. Thank you.
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This is so heartbreaking.. I am so overwhelmed with emotion and at loss for words. Beautifully penned. Big hugs.
Lots of love,
Sanaa
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Thank you, Sanaa. xx
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Thanks, De. I’m pleased that you liked it. >
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This brought tears to my eyes… it’s so true that in art, we can find beauty and catharsis in loss, but that life’s losses offer no such closure. There’s just absence. A sense of being less. And having to go on with pieces of your soul no longer intact, always bleeding, always aching dully. As you say, “There’s nothing pretty // about a howling heart.” The line “he vanished into those words”, also, is especially haunting.
I feel like this is why art that confronts grief is so important: art has a sense of wholeness and completion that we can’t find in life, and it gives us avenues to explore and inhabit our sadness that may lead to some kind of spiritual cleansing. So thank you for contributing this gorgeous, heartfelt poem: I’m sure it will help those who are lucky enough to read it. It helped me, and I really hope it helped you too when you wrote it…
❤
So touched by this–thank you
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Thank you! 🙂
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Thanks for reading it.
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My heart is with you, Marilyn! Knowing that pain and separation it still seers the senses ten years after the fact. Wear the love proudly and he always had! Heart rendering pice, Lady!
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Thank you, Walt. He was special. Really special.
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Oh.. God Grief is hard..
as an empatH oh God2..
FeeLinGs so sTronG i lEarned
to close off those FeeLinGs unTiL
oh.. God3 all the tears dried up in dry rain
too.. aH.. but now i kNow the reaSon
for those tears.. actually an
increase in dopamine
release.. a steady
decrease in
fuzzy warm
and soft oxytocin
human connection
and reduction in
trust of Serotonin
but then the nomad
of Dopamine increase
WiLL create iN arT anotHeR
tOuch oF Love.. and then the
warm and fuzzies will come
back and the trust and human
moving.. connecting.. creating
fuller feelings but the
tEar IS A
stream
that FiLLs
the much fuller
Ocean oF Love aGaiN..
AS rivers do flow and
tides
do ebb
on Ocean
shores oF eYes
oF sorRow and Love..
and oh God4.. poeTry
and DancE as WeLL
as SonG IS A great way
to work through and process
oh.. those so.. difficult trials
and tribulations of hUman EmoTioN
FReED… and as side benefit.. inteGraTioN
Of seNses iN MiNd and BoDy
Balance oF SoUL WiLL come
Greater2 iN heArt and
SpiRit ExPRESSinG
ways.. oh so tRuE..
noW iN liGht Now
and dArK oF LiFe..
NoW mY FrieND..:)
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My parents, both, were sudden that way.
I could be grateful
for what I didn’t say.
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Isn’t that an interesting twist…
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It's Still Life 
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