The Sorrow Of A City (Over A Departed Mayor) Poem by George Van Den Driessche

Leaving behind me
Is the world
I once called
Home.
Approaching me
Upon the horizon
Is a new land
That I hope
To one day call
Home.
But the thing that is
Always left unsaid
Unspoken and secret
Is that cities
Too can weep
Many, many tears
Grand Rapids,
How she did
Cry.
Pounding both feet
So hard as to
Shake the sky
So many tears
Fell from her
Eyes.
That the citizens
Nearly drowned
Oh, Grand Rapids,
How you tried
To stop my
Departure
Blinding me with
Rain
Trying to sway
My heart!
But I must confess
Grand Rapids, that
Your arm is long
And your sorrow
Is very great
Because the rains
Of your grief
Did not stop
At city’s end
Nor at state’s
Border.
But your sorrow
Followed and arrived
With me at Illinois
Where it has
Rained ever since!