May Day

My dear sister, Susan, reminded me that today is ‘May Day’, recalling how, as children, we used to make little baskets, fill them with wild flowers- usually violets- and leave them on doorknobs in the neighbor-hood. Do children do that any more? And wouldn’t it be lovely if     
they did? Wouldn’t  it be lovely if  we all
                                    did?

May Day!   (written in 2008)
May Day! May Day!
Planes targeting buildings
   filled with ordinary
   people doing ordinary
               things...
suicide bombers targeting
   people they don't even
   know in order to
   lay claim to a heaven only reached
               by the hell they create...
a gun-wielding, mentally-ill
   young man, acting out
   of his pain and perverted
   world-view, shooting
   fellow-students, faculty,
                for reasons beyond reason...
May Day! May Day!
The world is going to hell
   in a bushel basket-
      fear runs rampant!
      life is out of control!
      the foundations shaken...
                 no place to stand
                 no place that is safe...

May Day! May Day!
Tiny baskets, flowers overflowing,
   hung on doorknobs,
   bringing a taste of spring...
   carrying the fragrance
                           of hope...
Loving messages of care
   and concern sent
   via the mysterious
electronic gift of e-mail...
carrying & conveying the
    ongoing connection of
                   heart to heart,
                   life to life...
A phone call from a loving
   child to say hello, to say
"I care"...to light the day
with long-distance love,
no less the sweet for being
conveyed from afar...
May Day! May Day!
   A cry for help...
   a cry of hope-
      and love
      and joy
      and eternal connection-
            and life!
                  I choose LIFE-
                  and it is enough!