River

He was steady,
she told me,
like a rock.

I was only a child
but I wanted
to say a man
is not a rock.

I myself would
have preferred
a man who was
like a river,
changing
and quick,
always
a surprise.

— Alice Hoffman, "The Red Garden"

Tears

The tears you shed over a child
were not the same as any others.
They burned your throat and
your corneas. They left you blind.
-- Jodi Picoult, "The Tenth Circle"