Abundance of Caution

I remember wearing gloves.
The hoarders had their day.
A man at the White House said it was all okay,
and don't forget to vote.
We won't, we promised each other, from a social distance.
The dogs had no idea what was going on,
nor Venus, nor poor dim Betelgeuse;
local thunder stole his show.
On a cold morning when life was springing,
I wondered if I would someday write this down.
Better, I thought, perhaps, to do it now,
but think of it, someone mentioned just then in a meeting
that cherry blossoms still were scheduled to bloom.

March 16 2020

Delay

Insane snowdrops taunted dying winter,
invading even the shadow ground behind the house,
and green blades slashed the weakened mulch by the neighbor’s hedge.
On the way home I was avid for news from the frogs,

but then I thought no
wait
don’t be greedy
soon here, soon gone

not yet