. . . of the gaping scythe of Covid . . . then Hallelujah!
Since I stood on Earth
a hundred thousand years ago, or a minute
I have paused to listen to a medley of notes on the air
to birds and insects and animal calls, to whispers
of men and women at love, to children at song
I have heard the scorching argument of the sky
deliver a death-blow, and as peace breaks out
I have heard the new air in its silences
from the sea’s stones I have heard the waves’ discussion
from grass I have listened to the high mad dances
of the singing freedom of a sack of winds
what more shall I say of a feast of the senses
since I stood on Earth a hundred thousand years ago
all passing-present in the flash-by of a minute
I have paused to die with the sun and be born with the sun
my bones have known rocks’ hardness, the wind’s caress
I have drunk the flavours of Earth, I have bitten the fruits . . .
and just for a second, for all the family
I give thanks for a human life, for the human life
if we are free
