TWO WEEKS AGO
People were going about
their grocery shopping
when I found in the parking lot
a Saint Jude medal-
‘Pray for Italy,’ it read.
I held it in my hand and cried
fearing that after China
Italy’s deaths were going to multiply.
TWO DAYS AGO
As newspapers burst with obituaries,
medical staff, priests, and funeral homes
are overwhelmed
a line of military trucks deliver bodies
under balconies adorned with oleander
lilies, jasmine, and blue bells.
Spring blooms for the dead
while the living sing from a distance
with hope and prayer to bring this to an end.
…………….
I wrote this poem two days after seeing military trucks transporting coffins in Italy to be cremated. It left an impression to see so many. My name Iris M Mora. I studied writing at the National University of Ireland in Galway. I live in Saint Augustine Florida