Fellow wanderers,

This poem was written after attending a socially distanced funeral for a church member who died from COVID-19. I know the pandemic has affected us all in different ways. It’s been rather close to me, nearly taking both my aunt and great uncle. There was something about this Spring that I needed to express, and it came one moment in May after I found something on the road…

A Moment In May

Washing my world in green
Spring bounds up, vibrantly clean.
Striding toward my favorite haunt
I see a bird upon the sidewalk
A bluejay, black holes in its vacant face.

Crumpled, shrinking from its doom
Curling away from Hades’ loom,
Its tail, snapped, glory’s a taunt.
It reeled away-from death would baulk
But too fragile for the brutal graze.

I bow before the bird drooping,
Was it yesterday I glimpsed it swooping?
Lifted it gently, homeward brought.
Stillness begged for none to talk
And no other interrupt my pace.

Under the ash tree softly laid,
To his forgotten flight remembrance paid
And cursed fate, and the the car which caught
A bluejay innocently crossing the block.
Why must death we always race?

Under the crab tree we remember
She, our own, whom disease sent yonder
That cruel new curse is our lot
Took beloved sheep of our flock
But we sing and usher her into grace.

A glorious day in lovely May
Death over our cities lay
Quietude forced, we remember, we ought
To keep this memory fresh and lock
This sorrow we must again retrace.

Petals that day tenderly floating
Her picture on the table coating
As the jay’s bones snow will caulk
And fading feathers keep off shock
And over top ice weave lace.

A world in spring and sorrow
Still always, the same tomorrow,
Keeping peace inside, don’t jaunt
Out to speed the spread, don’t talk,
For it’s hard to maintain six pace.

Inside my heart was crumbling
I felt my inner clay a’tumbling,
Minding seemed an impossible want.
Another birdsong began to caulk
My heart, repairing casements with grace.

How were you affected by the quarantine? Has God worked in your heart during this quiet time? Did you pick up any new hobbies? I decided to learn guitar a few weeks ago and although I’m not any good yet, I’m enjoying strumming.