A long, dark year
filled with distance and disease,
murder and marching,
prejudice and protest.
I toss and turn, but the stars
outside the windowpane
are blind to my disquiet
for they glimmer and gleam
as always. I fall asleep fearing
what tomorrow’s news might bring,
yet the sun rises spreading pastel
promise across the horizon
announcing the splendor of a new day.
I lift eyes to the colorful canvas,
beg to be delivered from discomfort
and distress, and be showered
with everlasting joy, though
this histrionic plea will never be.
I take the Sunday paper into the yard
and watch the leafy shadows mingle
with the headlines, sense the ever-present
coexistence of darkness and light,
of suffering and joy,
of what has been for ages
and what is yet to come.
Image credit: Abstract background wallpaper (Pixabay)
- Coexistence by Alice Smith - November 15, 2020