Good Friday Evening 2020

Down below the virus hems us in,
Painfully separating one from another,
Instilling fear in all
And searing grief in those so cruelly bereaved –
A kind of darkness over all the earth.

But, up above, perched on the highest branch,
A blackbird sings his sumptuous song,
So many variations on a theme
To call his mate and thrill the human ear,
While the sun streams down
From a cloudless, azure sky.
I, in self-isolated garden, sit entranced
By this glimpse of the heaven to come.