A Bowl of Tears

A Bowl of Tears
Yong Wan Choi 12.05.10

The husband, a man who brought back plenty of sperm from Mars
the wife, a woman who carried one egg from Mercury

At the betrayal of the man whose pillar shook as life went on
the startled woman's rage, unchecked night and day,
burns wild as fire from the kitchen to the bedroom

The majestic flame that bore and raised the children,
the broken-off talk withers in a turned-away silence
tears lost and alone between heaven and earth
loneliness drags in a pain with its hair let down
and digs the dark pit deeper still

One day, when heaven takes her side
and hears the blood-clotted grief in her heart,
the sick heart, glowing red-hot, gradually cools
and at last the rain of a sudden shower washes the wounds

A brimming bowl of heaven's tears—
when, with a forgiving heart, she finds her place again and comes out,
the One who holds out a hand even to someone like me,
who set Mars and Mercury afloat in the far-off void