Dear descendant,
Right now your ancestress
is reminded of the time
she was warned
about a super storm bearing down.
Everyone else made jokes
right up until they saw
the eerie green sky,
that turned skeptics into believers
in a baptism by hurricane.
Is the sun shining while you are reading this?
Are you sharing hugs
with all the folks you love
free from the feeling
that your touch has doomed them.
I hope so.
Sometimes it seems
that the time you live in
is more real to me than mine
because I can imagine
some sort of normal existing there
that isn’t possible here.
In this time, my time,
there’s ugly trying to choke
the bright out of anything
that wants to shine.
Your ancestress,
she was given an explanation
for this vacuum of leadership.
Some had their reasons you see
to keep dancing with all the devils
that brought them to the party.
But there is more than arrogance and disdain
flowering in this time too, dear descendant.
There were folks all lined up
at a local grocery store
waiting their turns to shop
their friendliness still able to reach
their fellow shoppers and the store employees
from six feet away.
There’s folks checking in their neighbors.
People who bring in other people’s kids from the cold.
There are people sharing their talents
over electronic campfires,
patching over the frayed bits of life
with colorful fabric of their own weaving.
There’s people sharing what they have
to make things last
just a little longer, until this is over.
Which makes me hope
there will be a tomorrow
when this ancestress can hand off her letter
to a future generation
who will understand what she means
when she says love is what saved us in the end,
despite devils and skeptics.
Nevertheless, she persisted.
