Broken by the Rain

Felix Cheong Seng Fei

(for Daniel)

I am broken by the rain,
leaves telling on the fall,
poems I have missed
when I refused to rise up
to the dreaming in their call.

I am broken by the rain,
silence taking to the streets,
the falter and linger
that did not matter once
till my past learns to speak;

neither iron nor names
hewn to the bone,
but the losses I cut
when I know it's due
to call a stone a stone.

Published in Broken by the Rain (2003)

Last Modified: 5 September 2003