A Very, Very Brief Sketch Relating to a Melancholic's Morning Mental Meanderings during this Time of Quarantine; also Title: An Introvert's Reflection

The news was sobering as I, with my morning cup of coffee burning my hand, did not stop my eyes from skulking out the window.  The news had crammed my ears with advice on how to wash my hands, how to wear a mask, how to keep my distance, how to think when alone, how to make and eat my own food; with warnings about millions falling victim to a virus, with hundreds of thousands succumbing to the sickness and dying, and with little hope of any surviving.  The world, from what I could tell, had little chance of stopping that last foot from slipping into the grave.

Did the darkness of the news dampen my vision of spring, or was the warm and sunny season simply in the same mood?   The birds, sitting on the branches, from which bits of green were beginning to ooze out, were chirping away at some dirge.    Two branches over, two young squirrels were jabbering away in the trees, probably about another squirrel a few blocks down who was dared a leap to a branch a smidgen too far to reach--a paw's claw's length too far--and landed on the road at the same time a tire rolled over that spot.  "Nature has a unique way of curbing the crop," one said to the other as they larked about in the branches. Below them, The flowers bloomed out in all sorts of colors and arrangements as one might see in a funeral parlor, each color signifying, in nature's mystical way, sorrow, pathetic pain, unretributive love, admiration gone awry, loss of love or life, and like messages.  And among the flowers, a robin with his blood-toned breast skippingly yanked some unfortunate worm from his home in the dirt.  The worm himself, who seconds earlier was grumbling along some dark underground tunnel, wiggled for a moment, like a child being tickled, and then vanished down the bird's dark gullet.  And then I thought, these were the very same thoughts and visions as last year's.  I sipped my coffee, and it warmed me.

The end.