Largo Nature Preserve March 10, 2020

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twenty eight

The only thing that really matters is

For you to know how much you are loved

From when you were a child until now

For the wonderful person you are

As you navigate through transitory experiences

Feelings in moments that come and go 

People who arrive and depart from our lives

Passing through the places we inhabit

You will endure through thick and thin

Holding onto your core beliefs

Knitting together supportive relationships

Knowing what’s important

Being smart without showing off

Being kind and thoughtful of others

Being honest almost to a fault

Being gentle with any criticism

You set a good example as a teacher

Inspiring everyone around you to be a better person

Sure to achieve great things working hard

Whatever purpose you take on as your own

Indian Rocks Beach March 9, 2020

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advice to a friend

More than 50 million people died in the 1918 pandemic

With an estimated one third of the world population infected

That new virus sprung loose upon an unprepared population

More deadly than all the combat fatalities in World War I.

If that same rate of infection happens now

More than 100 million people will catch it here

More than 2.5 billion around the world

Perhaps reaping a toll greater than those 50 million.

What should be obvious to everyone by now

Without testing there can be no containment

COVID-19 is already out there spreading in the community

Telling us to take steps to minimize our exposure.

In this country the government response is a fail

Ineffective on so many levels too little too late

The scary headlines revealing more every hour 

Dismantling Trump’s lies faster than he can tweet them.

The medical system so totally unprepared

Having no capacity for a large influx of intensive care patients

With a shortage of beds, equipment, and staff

Lacking enough needed masks and protective clothing.

Which leaves us to take individual measures

Doing what little can be done in hopes we are spared

Assuming anyone we meet with may be infectious

Assuming every surface we touch may be contaminated.

Be obsessive compulsive about washing your hands

Try not to touch your face especially your nose, eyes, and mouth

Be agoraphobic avoiding public places if you can

Keeping your distance from other people.

Being an older person at high risk

Live your life as isolated as you can make it

Though we all would like to go on as before

What we can’t see can hurt us.

Hillsborough River March 7, 2020

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ninety nine

Try to imagine what it is like 

Turning ninety nine years old 

Still lively despite many infirmities

Cheerful despite sadness from many losses. 

This is Rosie we are lucky to know

Who has her wits about her when speaking to us

Telling amazing stories of past people and places

Whose bright eyes catch ours when we visit.

She includes herself among the fortunate

“A lifelong recipient of bona fortuna” she says

As we are fortunate she is with us today 

Smiling to see us happy together.. 

How fitting that she is named Rosie

With her upbeat outlook setting the mood 

Never mind the particulars of her circumstances 

It's enough to know it's not easy being old.

I write for myself but I write for her too

Knowing she'll tell me directly what she thinks 

Usually approving and sometimes giving high praise

“Really loved this one. Smiled the whole way through!”

Oh such encouragement do we ever get enough 

Giving generously she is a presence in our lives

What's not to love in such a beautiful person

Someone we hope has a wonderful next year.

Florida Botanical Garden March 5, 2020

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limpkins cri de coeur

A pair of limpkins working methodically along the shore 

Hungry birds probing busily for clams and snails 

Focused on feeding themselves as I watch them

Walking on stilt legs across the way the other morning.

At night their calls reverberate penetrating the walls

If you happen to wake and listen in the darkness 

A piercing scream that would be a howl of lament

If a person were the source of that sorrowful sound.

This morning one was standing a few feet away

At the water's edge just behind our house

While the other cried out nearby protesting

Continuing its lifelong endless complaint.

I do not mind being their local audience

Welcoming their presence joining us here

Announcing themselves in their unmistakable way

Showing their skills shucking the shellfish. 

If a day goes by in silence without them

I look out over the water wondering where they are

Realizing I miss that emphatic shrieking squawk 

A noise that affirms nature thrives in this place.