I wrote a poem today, but I don’t like it much.  So I thought I’d write about what I’m thinking… then maybe you can tell me what you think.

I was thinking this week that we shall see the deaths in our country exceed half-million due to a pandemic that was at first denied, then for political convenience a delayed response, while science which is too often denied, still came to the rescue, to create a chance for us to weather this storm, and to enjoy the joy of a rainbow rather than the ugly arch of recent history.

Each raindrop is about 1/480th of an ounce.. a half-million raindrops is 8 gallons of water.  Imagining this much rain, enough to drown in.  A half-million deaths, is more than we endured in two world-wars and the vietnam war,  all within one year… and yet we are numb to the numbers… we cannot relate to the loss.  We see only the recovery.  The rainbow is the arch we look to… and maybe this is what makes us human, the unrelenting hope for a better future.

Well here is the poem I wrote… but I am torn about what message is sensible in this understanding… what message should I look to?

A Half-Million Raindrops

The arch of history bends
As does light through rain
And wet on our faces tends
Not in anticipation of a rain-
bow, rather tears that lends
Onto the loss of souls in the reign
Of sickness that portends
A half-million drops of rain
An eight gallon loss sends
Us swirling down the drain
As this arch surely never mends
While we seek rather in the main
The joy a rainbow arch sends