“Only Hope was left within her unbreakable house, she remained under the lip of the jar, and did not fly away.”

Hesiod – 7th Century B.C.

 

The Earth is quaking, roiling, shaking,

churning, spewing ash and belching fire.

Her core is bleeding, leaking. We are waging endless war.

Someone let the genie out of the bottle.

 

Someone opened Pandora’s Box,

let loose darkness that swirls

out from the deep and won’t stop

until it covers the whole world.

 

I ponder the fragility of life,

curse our ridiculous vanity and conceit,

bless the frailty and resilience of the human race,

pray to the angels and call in my guides.

 

I do what any reasonable man must do

in the face of such chaos, insanity and disorder.

I confront the pile of laundry head on,

folding underwear, hanging shirts and matching socks.

 

I take the dogs, jump in the car, and go speeding

down country roads, all windows down,

wind buffeting my head, music blasting

black lab hanging out the window, ears flapping

 

on my way to no particular destination,

past horses and cows grazing in fields,

yellow dandelion and purple clover,

lilacs in full bloom, bobbing madly in the breeze.

 

Going nowhere, somewhere, anywhere, everywhere

on my way to places

I’ve never been

and may never be again.