I went to Lizzie to find my voice
But nothing came, only tears.
And when I went to sing
There was only silence.
The silence of death and loss and disaster.
The silence of the smoke that rises from the ground
When the last bomb has fallen
And no one is left but me, witness to all the horrors of the world.
They lie there inside me,
I have known them all.
And from them comes a keening.

Tears are fine, said Lizzie.
Tears are welcome here.

And the wail became a song,
And the song became my voice,
And my voice was my passion and my words.
My voice was my will to live,
My absolute refusal to die.

Lizzie listened and she asked,
Where did all the unshed tears go?

Then I had no answer
But now I know.
They went to water my soul, Lizzie,
So that my voice could grow.

This is what women do for each other.