What To Do With the Tears

by Dot Killian

Sitting in my chair looking through the jar of tears that have been collected over the years… trying to remember the moments, the laughter, the pain, the struggles, stopping to hold each one like a child holding her first cuddly toy.

Huge drops pour from my eyes and fall into the jar without splashing on the dusty table.
I hear voices of children playing in grassy fields and running to the corner store for candy.
Where did they all go?

Have they been soaked up in the jar or the river or the wind or the mountains?
Did someone call them out to play in greener fields? Do they long to return?

Creatures come by the table and gaze at the jar daring to crawl on the sides but never venturing inside to feel the chill and the terror in the tears.

I sit in my chair looking through the jar of tears wondering where they will find welcome and love.

Will they be poured out as a libation?

Will they bathe a dry and parched earth?

Will they evaporate into the nothingness from which they came?

@Dorothy Killian
April 9, 2022