The New Normal or What Used to be Ordinary

Little Dog’s Rhapsody in the Night

He puts his cheek against mine
and makes small, expressive sounds.
And when I’m awake, or awake enough

he turns upside down, his four paws
in the air
and his eyes dark and fervent.

“Tell me you love me,” he says.

“Tell me again.”

Could there be a sweeter arrangement? Over and over
he gets to ask.

I get to tell.


~ Mary Oliver 
Mary Oliver reading this poem

On a walk today with my sister, both of us masked. We are enjoying the beauty of a Portland spring day in the time of COVID. The traffic is lighter, the air cleaner, as we walk into our unknown future. Wearing masks daily, will that become the new normal?