an updating poem for the pandemic dead
by Dale Wisely

updated: 9/11/2020: 192,400 Americans dead (Johns Hopkins University)

Another dream
of the dead–
Have you had this one?

They are
marching
single file, masked,
six feet apart–
they wear masks and
keep the distance
to mock the failures
of the living.

I see the first
of the dead
at the head of the line
as they march
against traffic
on my side of the road,
consigned to the dusty shoulder.

He hails me stiffly
with a slow lift of his arm–
IV tubing trailing in the dust.
They march as I drive.
One by one. By one. By one.

Thousands, thousands of thousands
March march march
I drive drive drive
Two hundred fifty five miles.

I see the last in line.
But another appears
another another another.

Photo by Peri Stojnic

Poem © 2020 by Dale Wisely: Creative Commons — Attribution 4.0 International — CC BY 4.0