A Single Tear

A single tear is a tender moment;

A serene sentiment sitting alone upon a cheek.

A single tear is the rhapsody of the heart to beauty;

An emotional connection to art; to music

To a long memory.

A single tear is joy given freely from the soul in relief;

In thankfulness for the breath of child; a loved one;

A soldier who is back home again.

Tears can come from bountiful laughter spilled in happiness;

Shared in ecstasy; or unleashed in uncontrolled cachinnation.

And then too, when spilling out in more than a single tear;

Shed in unremitting pain, falling like autumn leaves

Upon the old garden beds-

Those tears of burning pain

Flowing in countless ways and upon endless nights.

Those scorching tears that sear scars on the heart;

Those unquenchable bitter tears

are the tears of loss.

And when time finally reminds the heart

That life continues and that those tears

May become a cherish moment; or the precious memory

That will keep one company until the tears are done.