the story begins with the
last lines of a poem
a cheerful set of words
I wrote to wrap up
2019 with a pretty bow
we're just along for the ride
driven by the beat of time
and in 2020?
you're gonna see me dancing
I wrote this, so sure that light was coming
before I knew I would need another surgery
before science once again
became a debate on the world stage
before the world fell apart
in the fear-
hidden in hordes of toilet paper
and scraps of cloth sewn together on dusty machines,
left untouched for years until we needed a way to help
the smallest hand, the lightest remark
to honor those taking their
last breaths on shared ventilators
and the ones who are missing sleep to stop this-
hiding in plain sight
are pieces of our humanity
we cannot afford to lose sight of
There was one thing
I guessed correctly, though not a prediction at all;
life is out of our control
we can enjoy happiness as it comes
we can try to help others find it
and we can recognize our sadness
but at the end of the day,
at the end of the year,
life
and death
are out of hands
and maybe that is the only way
we can be free enough to dance
* * * *
Submitted to Ledbury Poetry Festival's collection of "Lockdown Poems."
Thank you, Whit.
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