LEARNING TO LIVE FOR OURSELVES AGAIN

Today I sit, on my desk, right beside the window pane

That overlooks the empty street outside 

With a glint of glee, I watch the ink from my pen tip flow

All across the coarse-white paper, forming rivulets, narrow and wide

 

The smell of fresh bread wafts in through the kitchen door

Where my mother stands, wiping a bead of sweat from her brow

The countertop is a stark mess, and some flour has spilled on the floor

She watches with satisfaction, as the oven finally hisses open with a gentle sough

 

We are all discovering, during these months of forced reprieve 

From the bustling monotony of life before the quarantine hit

Talents, then hidden under rigid routines, crumbling under the weight of things we must achieve

We’re now, getting a shot again, at mending our cracked, collective soul

 

We’re discovering all the things we didn’t know could lighten our hearts

When we moved and worked and thought like aimless machines

These few months have given us a chance to beguile

And rediscover ourselves during the quarantine