WIDOW WONDERINGS 

Ring that bell, stomp your feet, clap your hands (wash ’em before and after please),

sing out loud – make some noise!

Can you hear me? This poem of gratitude is for you.

Late night rounds, early morning rounds – I know what you do. All that you do.

Medical staff and support staff too.

I sat by a bedside many nights and watched and learned.

This is a shout out for you.

Can you hear me EMTS, nurses, technicians, assistants, doctors, administrators, cafeteria works, researchers, drivers, laundry, and cleaning staff…?

Keep that elevator running, park those cars, run the machines, brew that coffee – I am clapping for you too!

Can I send out a thank you that will echo from grocery store to grocery store? From pharmacy to pharmacy? And through fire stations? Police stations? Testing stations?

I saw you tired in the morning from stocking shelves. My mail comes everyday.  I heard the delivery trucks on the highway. I will bang the drum for you.

Nature made some noise – the spring peepers serenaded, the wood frogs chimed in, and the woodpecker added a beat. 

Teacher and researcher – what would we do without you?

And for the sick, the scared, the alone, the grieving, the maligned, the tired, I am whispering a prayer and crying out with you.

Sound the alarms!

Speak for the silenced, ring for hope, clap for truth, call for change.

Make some noise!

******

Dedicated to Zakia and Max