Prodigal Sunrise

Photo by Shawn Rain on Unsplash

A Poem by Ed Pickel

It’s hard to see beauty for the struggle

Spring blooming obscured by “what comes next”

Thoughts of sunrise seem most unbearable

Promise of daylight a raging contempt.

Preachers offer platitudinal pills,

The merry heart still hides in the shadows.

Summer ferns sit green by cold window sills,

Outside budding dogwoods yield no sparrows.

Piled belongings front an emptying house,

Hope deferred ‘til the next teasing glimmer.

Pack up what’s left - navigate my worn doubts,

Walk away before dogwood blooms wither.

My losses are many; I've lived through the dark night. 

But faith has promised a happier end—

Step out of the door into dappled daylight,

Pick up. Move on…plant my life once again.

Ernest Edward Pickel is a retired college administrator and adjunct instructor. He earned an undergraduate degree in Anthropology and a graduate degree in Psychology - both from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. He and his wife have two grown daughters, two grandsons, and live on the Cumberland Plateau (Sand Mountain) in northeast Alabama. His poetry was recently published in the Birmingham Arts Journal and the Heart of Flesh Literary Journal.