"The Teardrop" Delicate Yet Profound
"He" has disappointments too.
The Teardrop by Doris M. Kenyon A star slips softly from the sky, In the hush of dusk, out of the blue, It is God's teardrop, from on high, For He has disappointments, too.
Doris M. Kenyon's poem, "The Teardrop," subtly yet deeply touches the sensitivity of the shared disappointment between humankind and the divine. The gentle sorrow that an understanding of God could have is encompassed within the metaphor of a star falling from the sky, something unthinkable, thus insinuating an empathetic connection between the Creator and His creatures.
The poem starts with the scene where, in the dusk, a star falls gently out of the sky. "Softly" suggests not a dramatic event but one that is quiet. It indicates that the star's fall is natural, almost obviously its destiny.
The fact that it is during dusk supports this: the star is not a symbol of transition or anything but rather of contemplation. As the day goes to rest, the star has faded from view—just like the soft endings and quiet losses we experience.
Kenyon further suggests that such a falling star is "God's teardrop, from on high." While simple, such a metaphor is powerful: it personalizes an astronomical process and makes it an intimate act of divine emotion. God shedding a tear brings a human-like vulnerability to the sacred—a comforting and poignant concept. It suggests that God is not an indifferent, distant being but radically committed to the world and deeply affected by its sorrows. Like the falling star, the tear is a small but significant sign of this connection.
The last line is possibly the strongest: "For He has disappointments, too." It shows that even God, almighty and all-knowing, can be disappointed. It is indeed a humbling thought—consoling at the same time. It suggests, after all, that being disappointed is not a sign of weakness or failure; rather, it is a universal experience and, surprisingly, shared even by the divine.
The poem by Kenyon might be read as a musing on divinity and the universality of pain. It is consoling in the suggestion that disappointment is not something we traverse alone; it is a feeling God Himself might relate to through the immense vastness of His being. It is how, through common experience, it becomes possible that God is near people. It bridges the gap between the divine and the mortal in the simple yet important act of shedding a tear.
The teardrop in the poem may even represent God's disappointment with human beings, most especially their capability for violence and other forms of destructiveness. The interpretation would contribute to the poem's value as a general sense of divine sorrow and a specific response to human moral failings.
Here, the star falling from the sky could represent the fall of innocence or something pure and beautiful because of human action. The teardrop symbolizes God's sorrow over what humanity does to each other and the world He created. Even though everyone may have free will, the phrase "He has disappointments, too," suggests that God is upset when human decisions result in violence and suffering.
The theme of many religious and philosophical traditions is that divine sorrow is more often for the consequences of human actions. It serves as a reminder of what free will means in moral terms and how our actions do not go unnoticed: they affect one another and the divine order.
The poem thus may be read in the light of empathy: God shares in our sorrows, but also with a warning that He is grieved when we disappoint Him by our failure towards peace, love, and compassion. A teardrop equates to introspection and repentance, humanity's striving toward an improved, peaceful alignment with divine will.
