<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><p style="margin: 0px 0px 4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">The Life After Tears</p><div><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">in the life before tears, </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">there are endless plans</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">and we would avoid the difficult</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">feelings at all costs, as if grief,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">pain, and loss are canyons we’ll</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">never be able to climb out of.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">But, then, one day, while</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">not looking, someone dear</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">dies, or dream breaks like</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">a plate, or our world, as</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">we’ve known it, is blown</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">apart.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Then, we discover that</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">falling in the canyon is</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">our initiation, and</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">the river at the bottom</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">is the only water that</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">Will keep us alive.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 22px;"><br></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">I wish it were different.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">But the reward for being</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">hollowed out is that the</div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 4px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">song then sings us.</p><div><br></div><div><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span><b> </b>- Mark Nepo</div><div><br></div></div></body></html>