Sonnet Inspired by The Return of the Prodigal Son

Sonnet Inspired by COVID-19 and Rembrandt’s

The Return of the Prodigal Son

Mark Cooprider

Defeated, stripped of comforts long removed,
Bent down, well past a word of trite remorse,
We crawl along in dry despair. We move
With fixed eyes forward on our homebound course.

We trek on, barefoot, headlong to the light,
Despite remnants of scraps and garments worn,
We are like infants. Hairless, we alight
And slouch towards that bright land to be reborn.

And yet, this homecoming, though it seems new,
Is one more broken fast and warm embrace
That rings with ancient timbre, deep and true,
Of dreadful deaths and births, redone, retraced.

Like all returns, past and far off in dreams,
The bitter taste of scraps makes sweet the feast.

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Mark Cooprider
Poet & Educator

Mark Cooprider is an educator, writer, and video creator. His writing has appeared in publications such as Front Porch Republic and Dappled Things (forthcoming), and his video work can be found on the YouTube channel “A Moonlighting English Teacher.”

Photography by Elia Pellegrini