Darkness to the Light

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Darkness to the Light

The aggressive gurgling, of the coffee percolator spluttering like a tiny squib,
Protesting to all the world its suppressed anger like what I feel at the incompetence of the greedy powerful leaders, corrupt as many are,
Unwilling or unable to respond with compassion and concern for the millions infected by corona, the worst killer virus of this troubled time by far.
The dire news greets me by radio in the early dawn, the corona spreads and has locked me down and makes me careful and afraid,
A lonely life is what I have, family is all barred, lest they bring the deadly virus that would end my isolated life and take me to the grave.

I have stood in line my lifelong time and now I would join another at the graveyard gates,
It’s almost full I hear until and the pandemic ends, or its wicked toll abates.
So many dead in warehouses or wait in trucks with no one close to look us in the eye,
No friends to smile and hold our hand with love to say goodbye.

Taken to the crematorium and wait again, and then be burnt to ash,
With no friend or family by our side we could be treated as useless trash.
Should I go and meet the others walking in the park?
To hell with corona, isolation, lonely and the waiting in the dark.

If I take a chance with Covid surely on a trolley sick, barely breathing waiting for a bed,
The hospitals are all full, I wait again and suffer only hours before I’m dead.
I could make it sooner and take my life myself and end the awful agonizing wait,
I seem to find no way out from the fear, and the hopelessness of my fate.

Then the beeping of the coffee brew awoke me to greet my world,
I saw a little bird on my window still; it chirped and hopped about free, just waiting for a crumb,
I recalled the days when life was good, and I had youth and life and lived wild and loved and had days of joy and fun.

When the sunbeam through the trees shone on my windowpane,
I felt a surge of life that eliminated the loneliness and the pain,
I cast away the gloomy thoughts and decided to survive, like that little bird so full of life, chirping and alive,
I knew that I could live in isolation for longer than I thought, hope and peace I found again that the little bird had brought.

Shay Cullen

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