“you’re pretty when you cry”

Rachel Brown
2 min readFeb 2, 2024

Resting my head on the window’s edge, I begin

Taking a moment to unearth what dwells within

I find nerves and joy and heartache, there is so much to feel

How does loving come so easy, when this part is the most real

My tears fall and the raindrops meet them on the ground

Speaking up, they tell me how kindred wishes can be found

For so many of us mope and find fault in the gloom

Forgetting that this rainfall is essential for the bloom

As a kid I thought the sky was shut and closed when it rained

Using all of my eight-year-old efforts to gripe and complain

And then I got older and grew into this open heart

It can complicate things, sometimes before they start

Often wishing it would mimic my childlike idea and just close

I tell myself things would be much easier that way, God knows

Instead, I sit still and sit here with Mother Earth

I turn my mind over to bringing her more worth

She’s teaching me what it means to not only have but to hold

Somehow her and I want the same things, especially to be told

She doesn’t ask for another to make sense of her weather

That’s far bigger than any of us, we should know better

With nothing to fix, she only hopes each phase will be accepted

Shedding light or shedding tears, it shouldn’t leave a heart so conflicted

Human moments and earthly moments, maybe she’s just like me

I am starting to believe that she thinks, feels, and moves like we

Only a few will understand

And even less will do as they can

I watch as raindrops match the pattern of my tears

And she reminds me how rare it is for us to hear

“It’s ok, I don’t have to know why

I still think you’re pretty when you cry”

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