After Quarantine

The world is made new
Different than any have
Previously seen,
A quieter, less crowded place
For we have sheltered in homes.
Those who solitary
Embrace, enjoy, are at peace,
But most are denied
The routine, familiar pace
That verified lives defined
By haste, and social interaction.
This contraction is revoking
Much we all depended upon,
We had no inkling commerce,
Education, government, health care
Could be like the empty shelves
Where toilet tissue used to be,
But now, we know the economy
Can fail because contagion invades.
The mystery
Will we return to business as
Usual if or when the deaths end?
Could we be fortified to live
More independently, freely,
Functioning successfully on our own?
We have been catapulted into
A space-time continuum
We did not expect or choose to share,
We are commissioned with the duty
To bring care, kindness, and love,
To this New World unfolding
Unfathomably before us
Moment by moment.

Hope Despite Plague

Busy, stay busy,
Converse with loves far away,
Read something, then more,
Celebrate this fragile life,
Do things to make the dogs happy.
Sing like you know how
No one is listening, just music be,
Do not cry that your job is gone
Hopefully only temporarily,
Recall so many better times.
Remember God is in Control
His love is eternal, never fades,
No tragedy can prevent Him
From being Lord of Lords and
King of Kings, these wrongs we suffer
This casting us into night, Christ
Knows and He will in time
Set it all right, He is our Hope
Our Defender and I will turn
To Jesus and I shall stand
For no virus, calamity, power of man
Can ever remove my soul
From the Master’s hand.

Today’s prompt on Poetic Asides is “Hope.” I am a bit preoccupied with circumstances at the moment, but I have Hope.

Alien Versus Humanity

The world slips further
Away from firm foundation
With each day imposed
Separation of us from
The who, what, how, where, we are.
Nothing is as was
Before the invader took
Lives from all of us
In action so vast, fast, cruel,
Unexpected and powerful
We are defenseless.
Our strategies to combat
The conqueror languish
In defeat because no remedy
Prepared vanquishes this unknown.
We are set apart
Distanced, often on our own;
Encouraged alone
Social creatures that we are
We have a failure to thrive.
To go on living
We set ourselves without touch
Not coming near, beside,
But in isolation, we suffer harm
Needing the love of one another.
We are not forever ruined
No alien, whether creature
Or deadly virus has ever
Withstood the corporate
Function of human beings
Acting in concerted
Determination of Love.
It is not over, God,
In His wisdom will in time
His many blessings align
With our monumental need,
And we people will break free.

Another bit of late-night musing. Bleak, but no, overall victorious. Hold on to all you hold in your heart, love will overcome.

Response Today

It has been weeks since
There has been any response
To repeated requests made
That he call me, talk to me,
Depression had settled in.

Then the phone rang with
His name filling its little screen
My son, my joy, all
I had been hoping for, real,
My heart, in response, joyful grew.

We talked and talked more
Everything I hoped for came,
Like the world was right,
Knowing he was well, that we
Remained like clones, years separately.

More than anything
Or anyone, he is special
The love never fades,
He is my happiest of happy
The brightest of fairest days.

Alex, if you ever read this, know I love you.

The PAD Challenge Countdown prompt today was “Response.” The fact life called was just a happenstance.

Strength

Quiet pours down, light
As the lock of hair
Grabbed and swirled round
Index finger and thumb;
Numb, numb, wilted
In the stifling of late day
March heat, barely able
To forego the house,
Walking buoyant dogs
Whose muscles ripple
Like a wake under sinew.
Ensconced uneasy in bed
Never invalid, never stop,
But the strength, it erodes,
Still, that is a no; push, go,
Various ways to give the ankle
Purchase to convey upright
This reason that is a being
Unwilling to acquiesce to
Anything against progress
Fighting always pain, doubt, fear,
“Begone, leave this one be. Strength
Remains, life retains, love stokes
The vision, all abides, stand – over-ride.”

The Prompted Positive Poetry prompt for today was “Strength.”