Why the tears
come on so fast
we seldom can
exactly say—
nor can we say
just why we try
so hard to hold
them in.
Sometimes when
you pour a glass
of water too full
it can hold more than its volume.
It’s no miracle,
it’s surface tension.
It only works
until it doesn’t.
Sometimes we hold more
than we are made to hold—
and oh that sweet
and terrible wrestling
as we feel our hearts
grow a little bit larger
in an instinctive attempt
to accommodate
the increasing tension,
the wild expanding joy.