A Poem: Living the Edge

In the past few months, I’ve had to find my new normal for living during a pandemic. 

It started with two weeks of vacation, something that felt like a luxury after weeks of being home except to grab groceries and walk the dog. It was a wonderful time of relaxation and reflection. I wrote poems that I have yet to share, and I found my way to determine how to proceed once vacation was over. 

I run a private daycare out of my home. Daycares were now expected to be open in my area, but I had to find my way through that. I was well aware of the risks of increasing our bubble, but I was not willing to take that risk merely for the purpose of supporting the economy. 

 In the end, I was informed by the pangolin poem I wrote, Consider the Pangolin, which I posted here in April. It is time to heal the disconnections of modern life. My daycare allows parents to work, but it’s also about connections. It’s about love and being real and living as part of this planet. My daycare is now open. The children have returned.

Today I had a day with few expectations, where I could take the time to do some writing. I was very pleased to be able to sit in my backyard in full awareness of my environment and write this poem.

Living the Edge

Thunder rumbles
As the dark cloud mass
Slides along the sky
Just south of me

It’s a warning of danger
Nullified by the bright edge
Of the clouds
Barely hiding the sun

I am living on that edge
Caught between Covid danger
And the intense brightness
Of love

Like the ever-changing sky
Life forces us into a balancing act
While we seek love and connection
We remain helpless
To outrun the danger

We yearn for the safety
Of our predictable lives
Old patterns and square boxes
We’ve forgotten never fit us

Thunder rumbles
Clouds change their shape
Raindrops fall
Sun shines
I sit under the tree
In the middle of it all
Grateful for the time
To stop and be
In it

Until the brightness of lightning
Pokes my eye
Suggesting I’ll be safer
Inside
With loved ones