The Other Side

The Other Side

Last spring took us to other side,

Across a steep bridge from life’s ordinary upside, highway joyride,

To a landslide

Of terrified,

Brain-fried,

Political and Social divide,

As sickness and uncertainty spread world-wide,

Our cleanly caution amplified.

Some denied,

Some unified,

Our leader lied,

Ignoring his chance to turn the tide.

Meanwhile, we modified,

Gloved hands tied,

Whining about restrictions we had to abide.

Weathering on, we went outside.

We bought more toilet paper than was supplied,

Formal was shoved aside,

And we took it in stride,

And tried,

But new normal never felt normal inside,

As businesses closed and people died.

And why?

What lesson is there in lives gone awry?

We’re trapped in a tunnel and can’t see the sky,

Combating boredom through June and July,

Searching for sanctuary on high,

As leaders falsify,

Some defy,

We grudgingly comply,

Baking, power walking, reading, getting by,

The news bringing tears to many an eye,

As rivers of social interaction run dry,

Dry,

Dry like the limp French fries that never travel well.

Like the humor of everyday memories I’d never sell.

I’ve grown to miss my loud school bell.

Icy steps near the side door where I almost always fell.

People packed like penguins, listening to music pulse and swell,

The locker room’s perfumy smell

Across the blacktop a faint yell,

Now an empty shell,

Endless time to sit and dwell,

When will it end? Only time will tell.

And so to quell my hunger for old realities,

I dream of laughter lilting like a summer breeze,

No one scared to cough or sneeze,

When distancing protocols can ease

And eventually cease,

And someday, six feet of separation can go back to six degrees,

When masks can become an era to tease

Which future students can gawk at while learning their ABCs.

I hope the someday a cure will appease,

Not just the virus, but another disease

Which has brought the “land of the free” to its knees,

A knee on the neck of an innocent guy

With a family and a life and witnesses nearby,

Why?

Shocked to our senses, we rise up in reply,

With our oppressed brothers and sisters, we stand by,

For justice we cry,

We struggle to breathe as day turns to nigh,

We’ve gotten too used to saying goodbye.

***

At last, a year later, we’re filled with hope,

We’re cruising downhill after flattening the slope,

For a cure we no longer need to grope.

We no longer need to cope.

A vaccine and new leader could bring a new day,

Happy birthday dear COVID, please go away.

Close come such dreams for which we would pray,

A beach, a restaurant, a hotel stay,

A concert, a buffet,

But before we shout, “hooray!”

We must remember the lives lost, the devasting cost, which we can never repay,

Empty seats, the heartbreaking holes heavily weigh,

There is nothing we could ever do or say,

To bring them back; we are stuck in a state of grey,

Savoring the scattered remnants of a golden yesterday,

For normal is but a myth, like leprechaun gold or Santa’s sleigh,

And if restrictions end, and our masks we mislay,

We will discovery the bridge is one-way,

For now we are trying to survive the fray,

Live another day,

Live a better way,

Bite us from behind, hindsight may,

As historians unmask us and portray

Such a tragedy worsened by disregard and foul play.

Our choices and actions on display,

We wish we could rewind, replay,

Retreat to our 2019 fairway,

But the stories of those gone we must relay,

And to our dismay,

The legacy of COVID will reside,

On the other side,

We cannot hide,

It’s here to stay,

For tomorrow will never forget today.