A Poem for the Pandemic

By Joy Snyder

Father/Mother, Earth and Sky

I can see with my own eyes…

You … daily, reaching out to me

and trying hard to make me see

your love, enfolding me with air.

Yes, I can feel you, I know you’re there.

Father/Mother, Sunshine/Moon

reaching out, dispelling gloom.

Daily reinforcing hope,

trying to reverse the slope …

that downward slide towards sadness,

the aftertaste of badness, madness.

Father/Mother, Source of Life

help me. Melt away the ice

that can surround my beating heart

when I’m not looking … when apart.

Cut off from you and stuck indoors

too long, forgetting how to soar.

My spirit hungers for your peace.

Replenish me, or I may cease

to live … without the sight of you.

I sometimes feel you are the glue

that holds together fragile souls

like mine, so fearful, without goals.

No fear of falling off the ground!

Why am I scared … scared to be found?

I ask myself while in my cave

of sorts … why can’t I be more brave?

Morning Sunlight/Evening Stars

Sending me such kind regards!

Out in the open, I look around

And everywhere, your love abounds!

I tell myself to be prepared.

To be prepared to be repaired

that is. A Band-Aid for each hole in me,

applied by nature if I’ll just be

more willing. Why would I resist

when nature offers me its kiss

of life, of breath, of sanity …

a feeling of humanity?

I only need to step outside

to access life, I know … I’ve tried.

I’ve been there. Yet indoors I stay.

It’s love and fear that fills my day …

until, outside again … my chest swells

gasping in the earth and sky that dwells

Blue above me/Green below.

Sometimes clouds or wind will blow

out there. I wonder why I leave

The blue skies/green grass … life they weave!

But I return to my shadowy cave. Sigh.

Indoors where there’s just me I cry.

Knowing that the source of life

is cut off from me, like a knife

has severed me from heart and soul.

Sometimes I feel there’s no control

while I stay inside … where I’m not safe …

cut off from nature and it’s embrace.

Father/Mother, Earth and Sky

I will join you when I die.