I know why you’re crying ~ Orbison & lang know why too

Music is a powerful muse for me, and words often flow from the imagery and emotion which rises as the melody plays out. Less often, the words I’ve written bring a song to mind. This poem was in my thoughts this morning and as the words of it washed over me a melody rose out of them. And out of a melody rose k.d. lang’s wail, Crying.

Roy Orbison wrote about a cry arising from reasons much different than those I wrote about in this poem, and yet the source is much the same. It’s a cry from the center of the soul. It’s the deepest lament for a separation, a divide, a seeminly uncrossable gap.

But there is a significant difference in these laments. In the tears of one, you long for what you have lost and cannot ever possess. In the tears of the other, you long for what you’ve never had, but which longs for you to claim it. And in these tears, transformation awaits.

I Know Why You Cry

I know why you cry
In the quiet hollow times when no one is watching
While reading the passage of the lovers’ first kiss
I know why you cry
When the waves crash on rocky shores under an amber sky
When the music touches some forgotten place in your soul
You think it’s for love of another
You think it’s for connection to the world of beings and things
You think it’s for something grander than you
But it’s not
I know why you cry
Feel yourself at the bottom
Of a deep, deep well
Drowning in the tears
Of a lifetimes sorrow
I know why you cry
Because I cry too
At the bottom of my own deep well
I know why you cry
Because for a moment
I stopped
I listened
I looked
I saw the walls weep
I heard the walls whisper
And the walls said,
Not for the love of another
Not for the connection to life I could not feel
Not for the sense of purpose in some grand design
I know why you cry
Because I cry too
Longing for a love within
Longing for a connection to my own being
Longing for no more than to feel alive
I know why we cry
We cry, not for what is missing in our life
We cry for what we have not put into it
We cry, not for what others have not given us
We cry for what we have not given ourselves
When we give ourselves these
Our well becomes the mountain
Atop which we stand
Transforming our tears
They become gratitude
They become joy
They become love
And I will happily cry these tears everyday
For through them I see love more clearly
Following the trail they blaze, I find connection to all things
Tasting their salty nectar, I learn my purpose:
To love
To be generous
To live with grace, abandon, surrender, kindness, forgiveness
I know why you cry
Will you cry with me?

3 Responses to “I know why you’re crying ~ Orbison & lang know why too”

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  1. karen says:

    I read this poem quite often….love the poem and love the song…thankyou for both

  2. Peter says:

    [smile] Thanks, Karen. And, you’re quite welcome.


  1. […] I Know Why You Cry is the first poem posted to my blog, God Beauty Perfection Love :: Synonyms, where I post under a number of pseudonyms. It appears there in the post I know why you’re crying ~ Orbison & lang know why too. […]

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