Escaping Is Surviving

What a busy day it was today, hospitals needing extra Staff as the pandemic increases in rate, numbers and deaths, My desk is cluttered, a challenge as two of our Recruitment staff are off sick, one with Covid. I’m exhausted, coping with the draining heat, I’m sleepy, so sleeeeeeepy……….. I walk across the dusty farm lane, The tractor done With its days’ work, parked beside The old, thatched barn, Children allowed to climb up, sit, Look, and have fun, Not to touch controls, the Tractor, lifeblood to the farm. I carried on along the lane, The sun was scorching my back But it was mid-March and it was Bearable, the first month Of Autumn, cosmos flowers scattered Colorfully everywhere, pink and white, Picked one for my hair, They stood, tall and proud, a moth Lost in time resting on its frilly foliage, My memory took a photo Of this mesmerizing scene. The old oak tree, had been here for years, I remember walking with my dad, Chasing butterflies, running solo Enjoying the tiny sounds of fledglings, And I recalled how my tears Would flow because their mom Was not home and they were hungry. Suddenly a breeze picked up, and the stream That ran beside the path Ran more rapidly than I had ever seen, The leaves started to twist and twirl, Rustling and flying in the air, landing in the stream, One in anger and wrath, Yet strayed for a moment to caress me, The stream led to rocks and rapids, And then a swirl, my, my There was that leaf again, it was as if It was a magnet drawing me closer, closer And even closer, I could hear the water drumming Down, a waterfall with a destination in mind, Oh no, I thought, does that poor leaf Really want to be in danger, is it It’s own choice, Or nature’s, I become so engrossed in its Misfortune, That I began to believe and fear, I had become the leaf, as the thunderous sound Of the waterfall swept up all in its rage. My peacefulness was far from near and certainly Not here, the leaf must not fall off the edge, Please, and nor must I, dear God what is to become Of me, But within circle of life, the leaf and I Entwined were now one, In the completion and ordained Decision of one of nature’s final acts. The phone rings, confused still in my daydream I reach to answer it, still in a daze say hello, It was the TV and the heat that lulled me to Into a state of sleepy escape, I hear the headlines, ‘Todays Covid facts’ Which surges across the television screen, Above my desk, reality these days so cruel, Shocking, Devastating, but remembering my Dream whether leaf or human, I will survive.