Honoring the Sacrifice

Matt Landon 1980 (Platteville, WI)



Wondering how this is going to end?  With

Everyone’s stress reaching a boiling point.  This trial

Reveals our inner selves, our nobler selves.  As we

Endure this prolonged crisis, our essential workers must be shown their true value.  Shown our  

 

Adulation for the risks they take every day to keep us fed, to keep us safe.

Learning from their selfless example will

Lend us the needed mental fortitude to endure our extended isolation.  While

 

Isolated from our lives, our loved ones, those of us in solitary

Need continual reminders of our collective solidarity.

 

There are many of us who have lost much while

Heeding the advice of our medical experts.  We must

Imagine how hard it is on them as well.  They don’t

Spread these rules lightly while they attend to those who have been hit the hardest.

 

Trying not to touch, not to hug, not to gather, weathers on even the heartiest of psyches.  With every day I

Open my eyes to the selfless, creative, giving nature present in all of us.  This outpouring of kindness, of

Generosity gives me hope for our future.

Every day, I hear of new ways people are helping to shore up the wills of those who are treating our ailing relatives.  Who are wrestling every day with their sacred oath.

Those dear to us lay bedridden in crowded, under supplied hospital wards, gasping, struggling to take one more breath, to last one more day.  Ultimately, our

Hopes lie with their tired worn out bodies.  Seeing if they have enough

Endurance to survive one more fight, to give us one more reason not to give up.  So they can once again

Remind us, “We’re all in this together.”
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Submitted on January 04, 2021

Modified on March 14, 2023

1:25 min read
110

Quick analysis:

Scheme X X A B X X C A A C D D D X X B X B X X B
Characters 1,616
Words 285
Stanzas 21
Stanza Lengths 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1

Matt Landon

I'm a native of Wisconsin. I moved out of my hometown after getting a four year degree from UW-Platteville. I recently turned 40 a few months ago. I'm currently in college again studying to become a Pharmacy Technician. Like a lot of people right now, I want to do more to help out during this pandemic. I've been an amateur poet for a number of years. I have a few poems which have been published over the years. With one of them titled "Fear" that I submitted through this website a number of years ago. This new poem is something I came up with last year during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. This poem is my way of saying thanks to all of the healthcare workers who have been and are still doing everything they can to combat this once in a century pandemic. While I have been fortunate not to lose anyone to this disease, I wanted to help express the loss which has been felt by so many over the previous year. To convey what it feels like to lose a loving/dedicated presence. Most of all to find the strength to move on despite the loss. I have also structured this poem in a way where each new stanza starts with a capital letter which when assembled forms a line which defines our country's attitude towards this deadly disease. Despite how alone most of us have felt, we will get though this. more…

All Matt Landon poems | Matt Landon Books

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