A Thousand Names

I heard the news at the same time as everyone else

And I waited to see the remains of a fallout

Isolated in loneliness, I kept my thoughts to myself

And I tried to get rid of the lingering doubt

The world stopped spinning, and we lost our faith

in the things we had rested in before:

Economics, policy, television, and the unforgiving race

to find ourselves better than we once were.

A thousand lost names compose the front page;

lives lost in a dismal battle as officials exclaim,

“Mask up, don’t stand too close, navigate the maze!”

But we feel lost and hopeless all the same

Is this what God had planned? Is it all a sham?

A great big ploy where the rich enjoy their corporate playthings?

Perhaps a scheme, a plot, a ruse, and a scam?

Or was this just how we got caught up in the daily?

The world seems to have ground to a shuddering halt

And we point fingers, looking for one to blame

Death and darkness surround us, wherein lies the fault?

But in the midst of it all, life continues all the same

Who told the flowers’ sprouting to stop part-way

or the trees to cease their blooming?

Who commanded the sun to set and beneath horizons stay

and asked the spring to halt its renewing?

Darkness is defined by the light it isn’t,

so don’t forget the darkness and its sway.

But remember the dark is insufficient –

Death has died, and like it, this too shall pass away.