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.~