The day I lost my job,
the sun did not hide its face
but scorched my cheeks
in rolling waves of fire,
but the day my boyfriend
asked me to spend forever
by his side, the streets were
glistening with water that
dropped in sheets from the sky.
It poured on my wedding day,
but the day my beloved grandmother died
and the whole world moved on
with a giant hole in it,
not a cloud stood
in the winter sky.
The sun beamed as though
this day were full of joy.
It wasn’t.
The night my first son
slid into the world,
the sky held no stars,
only a heavy black sky,
ominous and uneasy,
but the night my daughter died
was a diamond one,
glittery and full.
So, you see, the weather
never quite
gets it right.
This is an excerpt from Textbook of an Ordinary Life: poems. For more of Rachel’s poems, visit her Reader Library page, where you can get a few volumes for free.
(Photo by Nicole Wilcox on Unsplash)
