by Sara Sarna
You feel the cracking.
Vow to be a gap-filler,
leak-plugger,
like the boy at the dike,
who knows if he walks away,
the world drowns.
It seems there is no way
to stop things coming apart,
short of legions, armies
of the like-minded,
plugging holes.
But despair is pervasive,
contagious,
the goal all along.
Hold fast,
and I will hold you
and someone else
will hold me
and on and on
until together we are
stitch and bandage
to bind up the hurt,
the heart,
of a nation.
Sara Sarna is a poet, actor and hiker. She is a member of Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets, Wisconsin Writers Association, and Write On, Door County. Her work has appeared in print, online, and been heard from stage and radio. Her chapbook Whispers from a Bench was published in 2020.
