Always the sun coming out
tomorrow.
Always the better days
ahead.
So her heart keeps waiting for roses,
her hands never open the book in her lap,
her gaze leaps past
____this
________rain,
how it lifts the scent of green,
how my father leans close,
wipes droplets from her cheeks.

Jennifer L. Freed mostly writes poems. Her new book, When Light Shifts, based on the aftermath of her mother surviving a stroke, is available at Kelsay Books, Amazon, or at her website, jfreed.weebly.com, and includes some poems published at 50-Word Stories.