As Usual

(A poem a day through the season of Lent.)

Today, this time last year,
we got up as usual, held hands
as we drank coffee
on the sofa together. I made
your breakfast, and afterward
we drank our second cup

fingers entwined, as usual. 
You made me laugh. We
planned the day. You 
loaded tools to go to Tom’s to help 
rebuild the barn that blew over 
in a January windstorm.

This time last year,
we were planning our summer,
excited and grateful to add to 
the basket of memories
we have made these past years. 

We met back in the evening
to reflect on the hours we 
spent apart. As usual, we gathered 
the moments up like leftover 
loaves and fishes, feeding 
each other every morsel of 
the day. 

Then lying in the repose of each other's
arms, we slept, never imagining 
that tomorrow nothing in our world
would ever be as usual again.