The sirens
wail the soundtrack
of this silent spring,
a keening intertwined with birdsong
by day,
with my daughter’s dry, dry cough
through the night,
life and death bound together contrapuntal
on and on,
so that I no longer hear the sirens,
until I do.
From Days of Grace and Silence: A Chronicle of COVID’s Long Haul (Kelsay Books, 2024). Copyright © 2024 by Ann E. Wallace. Reprinted with the permission of the poet.