“Last night in Jerez some people lived,
some people died.”
Robert Bly (“Jerez at Easter”)*

Were you the Good Shepherd’s Lucy Dog,
companion of Jesus since Bethlehem
and that birthing stable the prophet Isaiah
was given to see–“the lamb . . . in love
with the wolf,” “the gazelle . . . grazing
close to the lion” (“Jerez at Easter”),
panther and kid lying down together,
cow and bear now friends, the young child
placing a hand over the viper’s lair,
you would believe there is a holy mountain
where no hurt, no harm (Isaiah 11: 6-9)
comes to these people coming from Jerez,
spirits from the world’s four corners
now rounded, Lucy Dog gathering
these Anonymous into their names,
their lives, their deaths counting
always to the healers like Anthony,
Deborah, Robert, Seema, Peter,
advocates of face coverings (mouth
and nose), social distancing,
washing of hands–a simple
prescription to ward off
the breath-stealing Virus,
its corona, not of light, but shadow,
darkness, a wasting sickness
bringing the people of Jerez
to the mountain, its green pastures,
still waters, guided by Lucy Dog
returning again to the healers,
their words of Truth a refuge
for the poor in health, the needy
in distress, shelter from
the storm of lies, clamor
of a boastful heart, pitiless,
arrogant insolence (Isaiah 10: 12),

Lucy Dog commissioned by the Good Shepherd
for more than encircling her charges–
her sheep, their lambs. She is Guardian,
waiting, always on watch for
whatever would rend her flock,
Evil brought to ground, flung down in the dust.

Works Consulted and Cited:

*Bly, Robert. “Jerez at Easter.” The Night Abraham Called To The Stars: poems, Perennial: Harper Collins, Publishers, 2001, p. 5.

The Book of Isaiah. Chapters 9, 10, 11, 25, 26, 60, and 61. The Jerusalem Bible, Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1966.