Patience

Everyone wants the troops home by Christmas
We want things back to how they used to be
And yet, as time goes on, we know that this just
Isn’t going to disappear. We see
The constant stream of rules and regulations
Rewriting risk assessments once again
The protocols and COVID-mitigations
Allow life to go on, but heal no pain.
So how do we adjust to this existence
Where none of us imagined we would be?
How can we perform acts of resistance
to help us in this new normality?
Go! find a stream! Sit under a Sycamore!
Watch a seagull circle in the sky!
Or, if that doesn’t work for you then pick a more
Personal way to get yourself outside!
If Spring brings hope, then Autumn teaches patience
When flourishing is no longer a choice
We shed our weary leaves and, in the spacious
emptiness, await the still small voice.

Rich Clarkson, September 2020