Repeat After Me
Woke to a heavy dread, as if
light itself could not bring the day
as if the next day might not even bring
that thing with feathers, and maybe no birds at all.
Then later the marsh filled with
the first great tide of winter
a gray sheen bright as a mirror
The phone rang. I told my daughter
I lacked courage for the days ahead
wrapping their darkness around us
like a winter shawl
She remembered years ago living in Italy
she’d heard the Italians using a word
of reassurance to frightened children or
troubled friends: Coraggio, they would declare
Coraggio! Coraggio, I echoed
Like birds we sang it across the wires to each other:
Coraggio! Coraggio!
