Why do these tears rise so close to the surface?

Like the countless drops that fill the swollen river

and wait to overflow its banks,

so too do these tears wait to fall.

They are tears of loss

of the past

of the present

of the awareness that-

as the river washes away the earth-

time washes away life.

These tears will spring forth

from the most joyful moments

and flow from the impractical sadness

of knowing

that life

and death

are one.