Inside the dark apartments lovers wait
and wonder if the sun will rise on them
or if the streets will fill again
with shoppers, vendors, delivery trucks,
the shrill sing-song of school children—

so by a lover’s moonlight, in defiance
of isolation that would silence any heart
someone opened their window and sang.
Someone joined in. And another and another
until standing alone and yet together,

the voices embraced an aria to life,
hammered on railings, potlids clanging,
streets echoing with life and breath
that seems as far as a heartbeat now
or the voice of a shadow in the street.

O world, I marvel at how you refuse to die,
calling the entire planet into song,
a chorus armed against uncertain sunrise,
a yes no one has heard before.
Live, plead the words. Sing another day.