Feel Good

The camera pans across

An enormous, brightly dotted field

Of vegetation and flowers without names.

Soon, the lure of violins and French horns

Matches the appeal of the angle of light,

Provided by easy-going clouds,

Stepping aside to allow shafts

Of golden arrows to find their way home.

A meandering, cobbled road

Stretches across this visual canvas.

One end in a valley curves

Upward to a timeless village, where a lone figure

Stands on one of the stone roofs,

Gazing out and perhaps down.

As the credits begin,

Sadness pervades.
The conclusion we’d hoped for,

Did not happen. 

But, as we begin to leave the theater,

Another solitary figure appears at the other end

Of that serpentine pathway.

Soon, both figures seem aware

Of each other, the one in town

Descends a series of rocky steps,

And strides briskly south,

While the other steps up the pace north.

Then, a collective gasp:

“It just might be.”

The credits pause to allow

The necessary conclusion

Of a well-told tale: 

One that compelled its audience 

To suffer with seeming risky,

If not tragic, hope;

And ultimately, give in to dark reality.

But no, in the end, one final surprise:

As the figures embrace,

The screen freezes

In extreme closeup.
It’s going to be all right ...

After all.

Better than all right,

Actually.

Just what a good doctor

Would have prescribed:

“Please allow me to say

Only one thing can get

You feeling a different way.
You need a feel good movie

And you need it today.”