By William Duke

Here is another day just like the last.

Listening to the radio alone,

I’m writing and I know I am awake

seeing the progress on computer screen.

There are good reasons for feeling empty.

Songbirds are louder than I remember.

 

Hurricanes, and floods I can remember

how towers fell in blue skies, what will last?

Even mountains don’t.  They stand alone

and disappear in clouds. When I’m awake

I go to the market where sneeze-guard screens

protect Claire.  The produce shelves are empty.

 

Driving back I see no cars,  just empty

streets without the people I remember.

Can this kind pause, this quiet silence last?

Now the earth is finally left alone

to rest and restore. Can I just awake

to beauty away from computer screen?

 

At home take cruel inventory and screen

a life, what is full, and what is empty

Triage thoughts, let go and don’t remember

why so few relationships seem to last.

Like the hemlock, I’m silent and alone.

Turning over at night I am still awake.

 

Today Christ has risen,  I now awake

to woodpecker drumming through the screen.

The bright sun casts rays into the empty

room. Easter arriving makes me remember

bunnies, eggs, and laughing children. At last

we are redeemed, yet still alone.

 

And what is so bad about being alone?

There’s more time to grieve, pray and be awake.

The day will come to take a viral screen.

Then like bears I’ll leave my den empty

return to wilderness I remember.

God may help.  Can this serenity last?

 

So I am awake to being alone;

Hearing redwing blackbird helps me empty

my mind remembering my Savior at last.~