It is the winter of this strangest year
when closeness equalled danger and alone
considered safe, we faced the fear
of life in dull dejected isolation.
Or else, locked down inside the lion’s den
we found ourselves imprisoned, desperate
for some source of escape, a hand, a friend
we hoped for help, but help arrived too late.
For what shall we then raise our hymn of thanks
given the millions dead, the more infected?
That in the silence, even closing ranks
with our own selves we found some light, reflected:
That in this strange, bleak year we did begin
to light the way to brave new worlds within.
© Experimentsinfiction 2020, All Rights Reserved
Written for Earthweal’s Weekly Challenge: Giving Thanks. Brendan has given us the following prompt as we enter what is Thanksgiving week in the US:
Let us praise the season we enter, this time in which we still exist, and give thanks for the bounty we are yet surrounded by, the nurture of what’s given.
I’ve certainly learned the value of gratitude this year, and I’m grateful for everything this year has taught me.
Indeed a year of strangeness
But I did feel growing Kindness
I did too!
This is beautiful, thank you for writing this sonnet, and sharing it with us.
You’re very welcome, Carolyn 😊
Lovely Ingrid.
Thank you 🙏
Classic closing couplet! Happy Thanksgiving , Ingrid. I hope that the situation improves come winter🙂
Thank you so much! 🙏
Wonderful! Finding that light, especially in dark times, is what saves us. I loved this poem!
Thank you Sherry 😊
This is beautiful Ingrid. You’ve captured well both the dark and the light. (K)
Thank you Kerfe 😊
Really a marvel Ingrid, so well crafted and with a couplet couplet in the end. It doesn’t only work, it heals. Thanks.
Thank you, Brendan for your kind words.
A stunning sonnet, Ingrid, about the strangest year we’ve ever experienced! The final couplet is so hopeful.
Ingrid, this is so true! We have been forced to develop our inner resources. <3
It’s not a bad thing, even if there have been lots of other bad things this year!
Many lessons learned through the stillness and silence. Introspective and hopeful writing, Ingrid. 🌼
Thank you Michele 🙏
Masterful sonnet, Ingrid! I like the enjambment and the half rhymes, it flows beautifully without that sing song effect that rhyming sometimes brings to a poem. Well done! JIM
Thank you for your kind words Jim.
Fantastic opening!
Beautiful👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻