Image by iStock

Image by iStock

This moving poem, by Miri Konigsberg, commemorates the death of the parent of a family’s foster child due to Covid-19. Such a loss is complicated and devastating at any time, but during the pandemic, death has taken on whole new complexities. The poem speaks of everyday pleasures and even everyday annoyances, all now cast in a different light in the shadow of death.

Give me one more day
Please just one.
To listen to the rain against the windows
The wind through the trees,
The bawling and the brawling,
The rhythm of a world that breathes.

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One more day
To empty loaded garbage cans,
To pick up one stray sock,
To serve up one more pot of pasta,
To take another walk
To sweep up the trail of crumbs,
To trip over their shoes,
To listen to their worries
Offer a hug, a smile, a sigh
And share corona blues

One more day
To hear the giggling children,
Who then finally fall asleep,
To watch their chests rise and fall,
And kiss their downy cheeks.

One more day
To feel Your caress,
To thank You for another day,
To pray for mercy and strength,
To feel the sting of hidden tears,
And the yearning, oh, for faith.

Just one more day. Please

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