Feeling the Joy

Feeling the Joy

by Ernie McCray

Feeling so relieved
these days,
joyful
for this chance
to change our ways
to what “normal”
used to be,
when the news
didn’t necessarily
give you the blues,
a feeling of being
alive,
like a young eagle
taking to the skies
soaring above
dark clouds that
for years
dropped rainstorms
of confusions and lies,
like a
drum-major
high stepping
or a Scot
doing the Highland Fling,
like
a scavenger
finding a well cut
diamond ring,
Gene Kelly
dancing
and singing
in the rain,
Lionel Hamilton
scatting
and xylophoning,
lovers strolling
alongside the Seine
in Paris
in the spring,
someone who
was deaf
and couldn’t talk
suddenly speaking
and hearing,
an MVP
on the winning team
trying on a
Superbowl ring,
beaming and dreaming
of receiving more bling
in the coming season,
Bob Hope
clowning
in road movies
with Bing,
an innocent prisoner
escaping from Sing-Sing,
a little boy
enjoying
his favorite plaything,
a loser suddenly
on the upswing,
a novice golfer
mastering
the backswing,
a hearty eater
greasing
on buffalo wings…

Oh, my soul
is sizzling,
sensing a future
that’s promising,
one leading
to what’s been missing:
loving,
caring,
and a commitment
to righting wrongs
that have been
ignored
far too long.

But we can do it now
because the demon is gone.