These tears I shed
Come from a feeling in my chest

Generated by the experience
Of losing someone in my life

But I have felt this feeling in my chest before
I have shed these same tears
I remember clearly now

When I understood the power of forgiveness
And saw in my mind who I had to apologize to
I cried from the same heart
That seeks water from my tears right now

When I felt true gratitude erupt within me
And saw all the beauty in my life
I cried from the same eyes
That I cry from now

When I delivered myself from fear
With the chanting of medicine songs
I cried familiar tears of gratitude
Once more from the same spring
That I drink from now

When my grandmothers died and left this plane
And I wept as a small child
The weeping was the same
As the weeping of the here and now

When I was rejected from my friends as a child
And felt that acute pain
I wept the same tears
As I weep right now

When I received a teaching of the Buddha
From an authentically devoted human
My heart erupted with the same tears
That I am crying now

As I reflect on the knowledge
That crying for grief
Feels exactly like crying for joy
I cry tears of the realization
That happiness and despair
Living fully and seeing death
Grief and joy
Inspire these same feelings in my chest
That make me weep

So bring these feelings forth, cruel and loving world
Show me what it is to know an open heart
So that I may weep for others
As I do now for my own sake

Bring forth the tears of my living
So that I may honor what is dying
Help me walk this path
With the knowledge
That this is truly all the same
There is no separation
Between living and dying
Only the awareness
That I am crying
And thus I am alive

“Serenity is not the absence of emotions, it is the ability to feel emotions without being disturbed by them.”

~ Claude Larre

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Editorial Assistant: Celeste Shea/Editor: Bryonie Wise

Photo: Fine Art America/Ellie Green