In Quarantine You Must
Let go of tomorrow.
Set it down gently in a basket
made of reeds. Like baby Moses
floating down the Nile
beyond his mother’s sight.
You’ve done all you can
to fight Pharaoh’s cruel decree.
Now is the time to trust
tomorrow will unfold as it should
with the birds chirping behind you,
the water whispering by the bank,
the breeze brushing your cheek.
Now is the time to believe
the baby will be saved.
The Tenth Plague
Pharaoh’s heart was hard as stone.
Not softened by blood or boils,
frogs or locusts. Moses waited
for ten plagues to pass before he led
the Israelites from Egypt.
Does that explain?
Why Columbine was not enough?
Why we needed more than Sandy Hook?
More than Virginia Tech or Vegas?
How many plagues must we suffer?
Before we are freed from bondage
to stand again at Mount Sinai
and this time heed the voice,
warning us not to worship
gods who kill.
Jacqueline Jules is the author of three chapbooks including “Itzhak Perlman’s Broken String,” winner of the 2016 Helen Kay Chapbook Prize from Evening Street Press. Her work has appeared in over 100 publications including “Mizmor Anthology,” “Poetica,” “The Paterson Literary Review,” “Hospital Drive,” and “Imitation Fruit.” Visit her online at https://metaphoricaltruths.