I Need to Hear you Weep

I Need to Hear you Weep
by Gabe Redel


Dear beautiful woman,
inside and out,
I need to hear you weep.

I need to feel
what you are feeling.
I want what you have
when you talk about how one day
we may not get that letter
with our dad’s hand writing written in all caps
on the Christmas card he mails every year.

Let us hear you,
oh beautiful woman,
cry warm and gentle
over those who we will miss.

Save me from myself.
I need rescue.
Teach our children
to see what is right and kind.

Let the water
that rolls from your heart
show them the light
after the overcast of the sky breaks.

Oh beautiful woman,
inside and out,
I need you to help me remember
where my compassion hides.

I want to feel it.
I have to have its truth.
I don’t want only to think
that one day it would be nice
for me to be kind when I’m ready
on a day that sounds more like tomorrow.