“EMPTY CLOSET”

The sky’s been crying for days,

it doesn’t seem to want to stop weeping,

violently hitting the few daring passersby.

The roaring children’s laughter

usually echoing from the building’s garden 

is replaced by the louder silence

of an empty house, in an empty city.

The summer storm rages outside

as I meekly attempt to pack, 

shamefully aware that this time 

I don’t know when I’ll be back

and I think about my mother 

staring at my empty closet,

wondering if when I see her again 

I’ll be someone worth losing a daughter for.

M.L. June ‘24