It rained hard, so hard it seemed the sun would be forever drowned out, that the light would never return, the gray and darkness, menacing and unforgiving.  Then as suddenly as it appeared, the transition began... 

When my child left home
On a warm autumn day
It was a time like no other
When she told me I had to stay

The wind, restless, stirring

Not knowing where to settle,

Blowing, my face,

Upturned to its silent songs

By Richard Howard
...My first poem was written the night I arrived in Australia, as a foreign exchange student, while sitting in the backyard of the host family that would take me in for the year I was to stay there. ...