Poetry

Tasks need to be done.

Someone has to do them.

Jobs that are not pleasant.

To those who do them

I thank you.

Not of our doing.

Forced into the situation.

Best to make do

With what we got.

Be grateful for what we have.

At least we have each other.

Strange how

Until it happens

To you

It is fine.

Like car accidents

Or getting cancer.

Putting yourself

In that situation

Never gives you the full picture

Because in the back of your mind

There is the whisper

“It’s not me this happening to!”

Things aren’t always what they seem.

A sniffle here.

A cough there.

Headaches and then nausea.

Body begins to hurt

As the throat scratches out it’s voice.

Sickness has arrived

But who is it?

A simple fever?

Or the deadliest new strain?

Alice had it right.

Run after the rabbit.

Fall down the hole.

Everything is changing.

We change too.

Too big or too small

We learn to change through it all.

As scary as it is

Change will always happen.

Can you see the opportunity in the wonder if it all?

Lips chapped.

Wind scoured face.

Drenched hair.

The walk this morning

shows promise for the wild seeds

planted randomly

last fall.

Be one of the crowd.

Do the honor of inconspicuous.

Who are you but another face.

Unknown.

Unseen.

Unheard.

Is your life damned by others?

Those unblinking eyes do not see you?

You are not worthy of their attention

and so you remain anonymous

and merely one more number.

Morning fog brain.

You know you must get up.

Things to do.

Chores and errands to run.

Other living things demanding attention.

Your body protests.

Coaxing the body to go along

is getting harder these days.

Sometimes things can start over.

Games, stories, movies.

Lives are on hold

Starting over only begins if the past is left behind.

Renovate the decorations

As your new life begins.

I have hurt my children more

with words

than any other way.

Even my silence

was cruelty

when I should have told them

I loved them.

My honesty now

only makes me realize

how wrong I was.

So blame me

when my kids don’t understand.