"Fearing crowds, Harris County to close parks for Easter weekend..."
--Houston Chronicle 8 April 2020
The parks now are closed
and yet Ralph, the old man
who wears a name tag
(because sometimes he forgets)
and prays on his fingers
(counting his Rosary),
still walks the path
--nothing to stop him.
And the ex-marine
in his bandana
still runs the edges
of the fence steadily
solemnly nodding
to Ralph as they pass.
And Mary –who always stops
to chat with someone--
is pushing her daughter’s pug
in a stroller because
he’s too old to walk
but we all still need to get out.
She waves to me
out in the street.
I return her greeting
but continue to walk alone
unwilling to break the rules.
The parks are all closed
but inside one of them
a blind pug sits in a stroller
waiting to see, as a bird
hiding in a cypress
begins to sing.
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