How Joyfully We Mourn

 oh darling

i
know
now
why
we laugh until we cry.

so that tears can be
glad
good things.

sad too.

so we smile at the rain.

as salt seasons our food
so tears season our lives
tears are both/and
not either/or
you can have both
it can be both
they are both
we are both
you and i

we are crying
we are happy
we are sad
there are tears
streaming down our faces
as we live
it is glorious
human
fully alive
we are living
we are dreaming
we are dying
one day
at
a
time.

no one can stop us
no one can stop us
no one
not one person
not one thing.

oh darling
don't forget to live as you cry
the tears might keep coming
you can't stop them
you shouldn't try
feel
weep
laugh
then weep again.

we are a mournful people
but how joyfully we mourn.

we are a weeping people
- how willfully we weep!

we are a sorrowful people
yet we will not desert the root cause of our sorrow
loyalty will undo us all
for we cry as we cling
close
to
the
Cross
the Cross
the Cross
the Cross of Our Beloved Most High.

and we hold on for our lives
for in the end it is the things we weep over
that bring us into His Sacred Presence.

surely the pain is an invitation.
surely the tears, a sign of the promise.
surely, this moment, the very best place for us to be.

together.

weeping.

surely all sacred spaces are woven
together
with the thread of mortal sorrow.

Poem prayer by Rachel Rastelli