WHEN THE TEARS
A Collection of Poems
FALL DOWN
Phil Williams
When the Tears Fall Down
When the Tears Fall Down is a literary collection of poems by Phil Williams, written in the aftermath of losing his eldest daughter. These poems rise from a place of profound grief and enduring love, capturing moments of pain, absence, longing, and the quiet persistence of hope.
Across twenty-one illustrated poems, the collection speaks to those who have known heartbreak, those moving through sorrow, and those searching for something to hold onto when words feel scarce. Each piece offers space to feel, to remember, and to breathe again.
Included is a poignant illustrated scene titled The Rainbow, drawn from real events in the author’s life. It serves as a glimpse into the lived story behind the poems, and the journey that shaped them.
A MINUTE
We’re here but for a minute
Least that’s how I’ve heard them spin it
But if it’s true,
it seems grief lasts a year
Each door that once was open
Now only seems to leave me hopin’
That one day soon
I’ll step out from this fear
It seems as each day passes
That I search for greener grasses
For a place that I
can find some air to breathe
That will somehow cleanse my sorrow
And give me sweet hope for tomorrow
That my spirit, from the depths,
I might retrieve
Where is this breath of life
Where is this breath of life
Where is this breath
that I’ve been dying for?
Where is this breath of life
Where is this breath of life
Where is the key
to open up the door?
If the song says it’s my duty
To keep searching for life’s beauty
It only proves the song
is nothing more than words
And mere words do not feel pain. Not in the verse, nor sweet refrain
They just remind me that
this life is so absurd
For why else would I still suffer
From the passing of another
Whose life to me
was more precious than my own
If they say that we’re all one Then tell me why does it still stun
Each of us so deeply
when our love is gone
Where is this breath of life
Where is this breath of life
Where is this breath
that I’ve been dying for? Where is this breath of life
Where is this breath of life
Where is the key
to open up the door?
“These poems linger long after the last page.”
— Kirsten B, reviewer
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Phil Williams is a storyteller, merging the worlds of “normal” life, grief, spirituality, sports and more—sometimes with a humorous touch and often with a knack for the whimsical.
A former collegiate football star at Florida State University (two-time Academic All-American), he spent nearly three decades as an NFL agent before stumbling through the brutal aftermath of his daughter’s death in search of healing and truth, open to exploring modalities that would have previously been taboo. For the last decade or so, he has enjoyed traversing what he calls the “Robinson Crusoe beaches of the Caribbean” in Costa Rica.
