Today is yellow with fields of dandelions

Today is yellow with fields of dandelions
and the first pollen the bees will turn to honey,
today is red with last summer’s frozen raspberries in my breakfast bowl,
with all the emoji hearts friends and family have been sending me.
Today I dress in black.

Today is white with buds and blossoms and
the gushing of mountain streams
today the sky is blue like the smell
of flowering rosemary blue the
forget-me-nots of my mother’s eyes.
Today I dress in black.

Brown are the skeletons of last year’s leaves but also the rocks that make up this mountain
and the very small chicken egg I found this morning green the ivy
choking the old chestnut green the impossibly bright grass and a croaking frog,
and I wear black.

What colour are the tears for the fallen, each day more than the next?
Today 475 dead. More than yesterday. Fewer than tomorrow.
We aren’t prepared and are losing a generation.
We are losing those who teach us that Life is long and brings many changes,
that the whole is greater and that all the parts do not have to be there
in order to be whole.
We are losing those who show us that struggling is worthwhile,
and that wisdom comes with it,
that love
has many colours

But today
black wears me.

This was written in response to an article we read today about the deaths occurring every day in northern Italy. Most are older people. They die alone without their loved ones nearby, without comfort, their bodies are put into a coffin before families or friends can even say good-bye, and they’re buried without ceremony.