Poem for the pandemic #4

"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.