By Sandy Lender

 

Someone had prayed for peace on Earth, God bless them,

But prayed without specificity

Thus we awoke in July to silence outdoors

Spotify stopped, the airwaves dropped, Pandora closed her box

With Hope locked trembling inside

As if waiting for a measure of sanity to release her

 

We looked for the answer in three, four time

While timpani drums throbbed to a different beat

 

Our children wept in fear at the solitude, the absence

Song, melody, harmony, tonal blending gone

We’d crushed beauty fully

Muffled it with our hateful shouting

Overpowered the hum of the bees, the thrum of Mother Earth

With incessant complaint and discord

Recognizing our imbalance after a cleansing plague

Left us with only obscene screams

 

We looked for the answer in three, four time

While timpani drums throbbed to a different beat

 

We took our sons and daughters home

To teach them sense and love again

No matter the personal definition

No matter the political affiliation

We sought the sweet sound of songbirds

To offer sustenance for our souls

 

We looked for the answer in three, four time

While timpani drums throbbed to a different beat