Shouldn't…but Do

The clock stopped.

At approximately 10:55 AM or PM, on some day in the last five months, the three AA batteries powering the old alarm clock gave up.  In about the same span, time stopped for more than 600,000 people globally who have, so far, perished at the receptors of an invisible viral invader.

I can replace the batteries. No one can replace the souls or salve the sorrow. Divine dictate does not drive pandemics. Germs do. That they outnumber us is a condition of residency on this planet.

Yet something stirs.  Though stilled, there remains enough power in the clock for its light when touched in the dark.  Something to that.