by Earl J. Wilcox
Larry Parks lip-synching to Al Jolson singing "April Showers' in The Jolson Story (1946).
Already primed by fading February
snows, brash, thrashing March
winds, come softly sweet showers.
Make us mindful of your spring spirit
here where pandemic surviving souls
surely long to go on pilgrimages
to the beach or baseball game. O,
sweet showers fall gently today on
dogwoods and azaleas in our back yard,
where sparrows and chickadees still
sleep with open eyes, as in Chaucer’s
day & cardinals and Carolina wrens
build beautiful nests. O blithe spirit
of mockingbirds, we seek only blissful
martyrs of courageous care givers,
vaccines’ power and glory, blessed
assurance that this April thy showers
nourish and sustain this good earth.
Earl Wilcox dedicates this poem to the spirits of all who did not live through the pandemic to see this spring’s colorful flowers nor hear the mockingbirds sing or feel the comfort of a warm April shower.