In the wake of illness striking millions by surprise
those affected by it personally or through kinship ties,
how they all weighed down into sunken loneliness,
a least best breath for the astonished depth of the dive,
hands flailing for some of water’s grasp,
against fear of the bottom, unfathomable in its mystery,
a puzzled solution fought against now and forever
in the lunged burst airlessness of a chance sickened soul,
and some come through depth and tide and wave
were handed up and light and weary came about,
while so many found extreme deliverance
in the calming dark of some endless healing night,
hearts separated weary in this reeling world,
unite apart amid our loss as the bell has tolled for all.
Lanning Lee 