Covidly – A Poem

Each of us is like Rapunzel in her tower.

We look down at the world around us

and we wonder what brought us to this.

Though we let our hair down,

in hopes that someone will grab hold,

no one does and we are left alone.

As I come down from my tower,

I walk in a world that used to be filled

with a multitude of other people

but now contains only emptiness

filled with a loud, deafening silence.

When I do see people in the distance I wave,

happy to see others at long last,

but there are magnets within us that we cannot see  

and we are pushed apart,

the distance growing between us.

We wave at each other,

almost as if we have forgotten

what the company of others feels like.

The panic is a constant companion

and I can feel it within me

almost as if it was a bird.

I can feel its wings flapping

as it tries to take flight,

yet there is nowhere to go but further inside of me.

I wonder if the bird will eventually

find its way out and fly from my mouth

into the very air that I have grown to fear.

I picture myself watching as the bird

flies away and, for a moment,

wish that it would let me ride on its wings.

I push the panic and the fear down,

trying to summon the light

that I know is within me.

It will vanquish the fear and the panic

that have become such strange bedfellows.

They’ve grown stronger with every passing day,

as we are kept inside our homes with the television

feeding us a diet of even more panic and worry.

The uncertainty is almost a physical presence

and with each day there are new blooms along my skin.

When I do see other people,

coming down from their own towers in the sky,

their skin is covered in the same blooms,

coloured with the same hues

of uncertainty, worry and fear.

However, if this is a war that we are in,

we should be in it together.

Just because we are separate,

does not mean we are alone.

Even so, I have difficulty finding

the light within that I need to beat this.

I think of the last time I hugged my mother,

or the last time I was able to hold a friend’s hand

while I offered them comfort in a moment of sorrow.

I will think of the laughter that I shared with others,

the simple act of sitting close to one another.

It has only been a couple of months,

but it feels like it has been a year,

for each day feels longer than the last

and they have lost their name.

I do not recall which day it is

and I have become lost in time.

Yet with every day, I yearn to be kinder despite my fear.

I know that in this way I will grow the light within me.

The light will grow brighter with every act

of positivity, kindness and generosity that I can preform.

The only way to prevent the spread of the virus

is to remain far apart from each other

and shine brightly into the night that seeks to separate us.

The windows of our towers will light up the darkness

so that the sky looks like it is filled with stars.

That way, others who may be lost in the dark will see our light

and they will know that they are not

alone.