Reaching for the light

We who are mired in dark thoughts,

Sleepless in dark nights,

drowning in darkness,

Trapped in the dark grasp

Of a future unknowable,

Still lift our hands,

Reaching out for the light,

Trusting and hoping 

that dawn must arrive before long.

Grace in a time of pandemic

This is grace in a time of pandemic:

To take the remains of what has been lost

And turn it into a home for something new;

To build on what is left, providing shelter

For some new life, in you or in the world,

That is waiting to be born.

Escalations

The numbers keep on growing,

Escalating, exponential;

Thousands struggling for breath

And thousands more braving death

In their efforts to keep their patients alive,

And thousands more, confronted

With familiar chairs, now empty,

Watch in shock as the sun rises again...

How can we breathe through so much grief?

Warily we carry on...

Warily we carry on our solitary tasks,

Wondering what awaits around the corner

And how long it will take us

To rebuild what we have lost.

An invitation to hope

Beneath the threatening skies

And the menacing tendrils of fear,

The cherries lift their branches full of blooms,

A promise there will still be fruit to come.

Watching, trapped behind our windows,

We contemplate their invitation to hope.

Safe travels

Having left the shores of what was then,

We travel now in separate boats

And hopefully provisioned,

To a destination yet unknown,

Over waters unfamiliar for a time unspecified.

May your seas be calm, 

May you remain in health;

May the wind be always at your back, 

and the sunshine warm upon your face.

And may the rains fall gently on your sails

Until we meet again at journey’s end.

Rest in your own company

Listen! Beneath the silence of the skies,

Beside the ribbon of empty roads,

Spring is breathing health into the air.

The earth is helping us to heal,

Sending new life forth as if to say

Staying in place is what allows us all

To deepen, and to bloom: 

Be not afraid to rest in your own company,

For there your future lies.