Weathering Life

The following two poems are by Rebecca Elizabeth Boyle, a university student in Australia. They show how our personal "weathers" can change in all senses of the term. Quite a bit has been written that compares grief to weather in various ways.

The summers in which my father and sister passed away were drought-ridden. The many natural deaths that resulted from those droughts made me feel both more alone in my grief and more accompanied.  As I watched trees lose their leaves out of season, plants of many years go brown and die, and birds and squirrels suffer or die from lack of water, I felt an acute sense of being surrounded by sorrow and a sense of being part of, of even belonging to, a hard world where rain can disappear and nature, too, has to bear death unexpectedly and out of season. During those times, I have also been fortunate to have friends willing to walk through the drought--internal and external--with me.

Rebecca Elizabeth's poems start at the opposite point, though, with watery words....

by Rebecca Elizabeth Boyle

Let it rain, let it rain,

I need something to wash away this pain.

I’ve twisted everything around,

Gained nothing,

And nothing is ever found.

All I ever feel is down.

I have no way to stand on my own ground.

Drink it down, for a drunken smile

Will replace this sober frown.

I have all these voices in my head

As I lie restless in bed.

I rock and shake while I cry on the floor,

I want to don’t want to be alone anymore.

Can you call my name and let it echo,

Until I learn to follow?

Sadness will weep into sorrow,

Lasting for tomorrow,

and tomorrow and tomorrow.

________________________________________

The Weather of Friends

by Rebecca Elizabeth Boyle

There are people in life that set apart the rest,

These are the ones whom you meet,

and you never are the same again.

What makes those people different could be as simple

as a facial expression or a hand gesture; but with you,

it is the simple smile you do when you get grumpy

and suddenly realise there is no point in it.

Conformity does not stand out;

those with flare have a mist of individuality.

You chose to make these simple actions,

which places you into this mist.

There is never a dull moment with you;

an  argument with you is never won.

If I could compare you to a particular weather,

it would be a hurricane—

calm one moment and a mission of emotions the next.

You have the softer side,

which some have yet to see,

but slowly, you are revealing little parts to me,

like dancing in the rain when others run for cover.

To lose you, and these moments that

are clear in my mind, would be devastating,

You are the shoulder I run to,

the one that always completely listens.

Everyday I can find myself thinking,

“If everything will stay the same....”

Times change, people change,

but I hope from this day forward, we never will.

My friendship is offered to you on a silver platter,

please, just take it and run with it.

 ______________________________________________

Rebecca Elizabeth Boyle came into this world in 1992 and describes herself as a mission of emotions. She loves simple things like blowing bubbles and dancing in the rain, has a contagious laugh, and believes that you can do nothing stronger than be and stay true to yourself. Also see: All Poetry.

Poems, copyright Rebecca Elizabeth Boyle, all rights reserved.

Images, copyright Ysabel de la Rosa, all rights reserved.