To Brief Reprieve

Shall we sing tales of how the hours were spent,

Alone with nought to keep us safe, but fears?

For Summer’s wonder must we now repent,

and curse the days we had to dry the tears?

It seems we took the chance to throw the towel,

A gauntlet versus viral’s killing spree;

Beneath the sun we bathed to wash afoul,

To rinse the eyes of horrors all could see.

So thus we smiled, we read, we talked, we wrote –

uncarved, the distance holding fast like stone;

Our souls combined as one by one we note

an end to cares for which we now atone.

In naïve hope, we dreamed the battle won;

Believing nought that death had just begun.