A year and a half since your rapid death
by global plague. Who could have predicted
that finale? Twelve thousand miles away
a virus leaked from a lab or a scaly-
skinned animal mistakenly sold
for food. Had God written those details
in the Book of Life? And to think we spent
time worrying about your blood pressure.
Six days after New York City shut down,
your kidneys failed. Hardly comfort knowing
that were I there, they would not let me
see you, that we could not breathe the same air.
On the phone, you told me that you were cold.
No one was there to give you a blanket.
Hilene Flanzbaum is Professor Emerita at Butler University.
