As a UD student in the 1960s, I took pride in the way our campus was alive with the challenges and relevant issues of the day. In addition to classroom and campus discussions, those of us in one of Father Adrian McCarthy’s literature classes contributed poems or prose to the exchange of ideas and shared emotions. Encouraged by today’s concerns and experiences at UD and every campus, I am attaching a recent poem focusing on the pandemic in our country.
An American Lament
At this point who would have thought that we would
Still be staggering under the mounting weight
of our collective loss —
The loss of elder and infant, of neighbor and stranger, the loss of family.
Still be staring down empty streets and silent parklands,
Still straining to hear familiar melodies, not the shrill keening
Of American voices in the dawn and dusk of darkened days.
216,904 is an aching wound, not a sad and simple number.
And what number will replace it when no sum is comforting?
How can we tally the empty seats around the kitchen table
and not see faces? How ask about the school day
When this school calendar is now blank and shelved?
How can we leave the porch light on or listen for
the footstep
On the stairs, when some workdays now never end.
Isolated and alone, the suffering cling to their humanity
In compassionate hearts, cling to their divinity
In whispered prayers and resolute hope.
Our strength is now the strength of many
Because as Americans — roused, pledged, and resolute —
We respond to every challenge more determined that before,
As ready for each sacrifice
As in every war.