A Few Days Back From Orlando

A Few Days Back From Orlando

A few days back from Orlando.
Jacket donned.
Hat on.
Branches shiver.
Tiny buds yawn.
Ready to bloom.
When winter withdraws.
Snow bells blanket glen.
White, fresh, bent in prayer.
A scarlet cardinal splashes red.
Two geese honk insistently.
From atop a roof.
The scene breathes.
With new beginnings.
Hope.
The news does not.
Across the world, Russian tanks roll.
Rockets hit.
Kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson.
Stomp on hope.
Freedom.
Democracy.
Lucky geese can’t read.
Or they’d be honking day and night.
Without end.
Screaming.
Russians, do not smite
your spurious birthright.
Diplomacy beats might.
So, please retreat, take flight!
Or face the West’s sharp bite.

Lynn Benjamin
March 2, 2022