Dusk settles in on this last week of winter.

Light lingers a few more minutes.

The day’s news, grim and foreboding,

weighs on our minds, breaks our hearts.

Night’s darkness helps to mask our pain,

but still we question our responsibility

in these times. Is there nothing we can do?

Too heavy.  Too much.

We say a prayer and slip into sleep.

Soon spring will come, perhaps new peace.

Nature does not contemplate our human endeavors,

but reacts to changes in environment, no matter the cause.

Hope carries us through to dawn

with ice and snow near gone.

We long for bulbs to awaken and inspire us

to live in peace and beauty once again.