Sonnet of the Week — May 23, 2020
On the Occasion of One Hundred Thousand Deaths
ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND Americans gone.
The number pains my eyes, my ears, my heart,
Each one’s a person—a daughter or son,
A husband, a wife—too soon to depart.
When life’s just numbers, the culture has died.
There’s no use citing “acceptable loss.”
For the good of Dow Jones, we are fed lies,
Evil that springs from a mind at a loss.
There was a time, one night in the City,
I met this man who would make himself king.
Even then, he was looked on with pity,
Cold lucre, for him, was just everything.
If child is father to the man, indeed,
It behooves all Creation to pay heed.