Corona Memories

i should feel relief

as the year dwindles away,

slipping through my fingers

like water

after a dream -

but my heart betrays me.

the relief

is tempered with

sorrow -

like there’s no tomorrow.

only today -

at an end.

the clock draws nearer to twelve o’clock midnight and I find myself

watching,

craning my neck to make sure

that the minutes don’t fly by too soon but

i know they will.

i know that even if i dial back the time

to the beginning

it will still pass me by

on feathery wings

groomed with bittersweet joy.

i know that the excitement that bursts my heart

is not free

from pain

in the year that has torn us apart -

and brought us together.

Corona

Hatred

Anger

Nightfall

Goodness

Enlightenment

Sunlight, once again.

now as the gears that keep control

grind to a halt,

as the weather grows warmer

and routines are awry,

we clasp hands.

we weep to the winds

with love and pain,

with loss and gain.

now our tissues are bedewed with april showers and may tears.

now we sign our yearbooks

in smudged marker,

tracing the passage of time.

we slacken standards,

relax rules -

and we cry.

because this year

everything is different.

usually there is a next year

but there will never be another year like this.

we made history

but now we come to a break in the page.

now our corona memories

of our corona year

end.

nothing will ever be the same.

• KGH