JOY, JOY

by Dolly A Berthelot © 2020
This most dismal
Christmas week 2020–

Covid soars,
Multitudes die
Isolation chafes
Families stay apart
To save lives
While some party
Without masks,
Without care.

Nature rebels
As the wise
Have long foretold.
Hurricanes,
Snowstorms,
Wildfires,
What’s next?

America is cyber-attacked
Security is sabotaged
Putin chuckles,
Our allies shiver.
The President is silent
Then contradicts his experts.
Democracy seems under siege.

And yet, and yet,
In my unruly old basket of junk food
A single luscious dark chocolate
Elmer’s Gold Brick egg appears—
Hidden since its Easter debut.

It is a Christmas Miracle!
I smile, I salivate, I sing
Joy to the world!
Jot to the world!!

May simple pleasures return,
Return, against all odds.

Dolly Berthelot is author of PERFECTLY SQUARE.