To the children
spending school days separated from the
knowledge that they’re not alone
To my father,
caregiver, pastor,
burying ten people in a single month
To the families,
forced to grieve behind the smartphone screen
when gathering and distance both dealt their own kinds of death
To the residents of the nursing home at the end of our street,
I hope the smiles we shared as we walked our dog by
helped you feel loved
To the healthcare workers,
lives on the front lines
so that the rest of us could live a safer future
To the curious,
transforming isolation to self-connection,
emerging from our solitude as new people
To the dreamers,
bursting forth from quarantine
rainbows in full bloom
To the activists and artists,
who never stopped speaking,
creating new justices in love across space & time
We all are like the broken vase
patched together with gilded glue
some pieces still on the floor
But we are not alone anymore.
To us all:
Living, dead, and those
who yet but breathe in dreams and whispers
To us all:
may we remember how it felt to be isolated
and reach across our false divides in love
To us all
To us all
To us all
