I took this photo very early Saturday morning (Nov. 21st) from our 4th floor patio. The melancholy feel  of the photo seems to match the mood of this rhyme.
I wrote this rhyme on April 27, 1990, soon after my husband filed for divorce. It was a difficult time and as I reread the poem, I could see a germ of hope, because without hope, divorce is difficult to survive.
Tears of sadness
Tears of grief
Tears of gladness
Tears of relief
put them all together in one big pile
the calico tears will pepper my smile
stir them gently in one, big bowl
a spiritual recipe for cleansing my soul
i’ve tasted the passion, i’ve tasted the pain
i’ve burned the anger and scrambled my brain
now it’s up to my Higher Power
please make this my finest hour!
This tree is almost bare, but as the leaves drop off and the trees rest in the winter, there is the hope of Spring with new green leaves.  Perhaps with divorce, we can let go of some of the pain and allow hope to come in.  (I took this on Nov. 12th.)