There are times when all you need is a good cry. My daughter said this to me the other day when I asked her how things were going. I really knew how she felt.

When we are going through a hard time, things get to be too much. So many these days are experiencing frustration, sadness, loss, financial problems. It’s just hard to get your life in order. But without the bad times we wouldn’t recognize the good times. I know, a cliche.

It would be so nice if all we really needed was a good cry to cleanse our inner mind and wring the nasty feelings out of our psyche.

 

A Good Cry

 

I need to sit and have a good cry.

Bone-deep weeping and calling out

in spasmodic sobs

to express that woefulness

that steals my words,

that shuts off my breathing

with hard, strangling fingers

 

A good bleeding weep

until the marrow rattles free

and body fluids flow again

unhindered,

filling my hollow limbs with warmth

where now

it is like winter.

 

My words gone, my mind numb

there is nothing left

but water squeezed through

tiny holes

straining pain like pasta

in a sieve, running hot,

then cold to firm it up

 

There is no other way but weeping

there is no alternative

but speechless, primal groans and

tightened stretched lips

across the teeth

and tears that run

unimpeded

 

And after this,

an unnatural quiet

where the mind wanders

an unfamiliar landscape,

watching lightning flash

within the receding clouds.

 

 

Diane E. Dockum