25/9/2020

Like a well-read book
The ends were coming off
Comments in the margin
Entangled lines all over the page

Like my favourite Augustan
you didn’t run away
When I told you that night
what I needed to stay

I wasn’t lost,
Nor a damsel in distress,
All I asked for was a moment of
Rest

I need to rest
I need to gather my thoughts
I need to figure out what it is that drives me
It is you

Of all the things I knew
I didn’t expect you to be what was missing
From my perfectly thought-through and executed Type A life

I have no moors to roam
No Belgian villages to escape to

All I have is the here and now
The past seven months have turned me into a fighter
Brought us closer
Spatially
Emotionally
The world around me has shifted
We all have lost something,
Miss something,
Somebody
Social interactions
Routines
Pay checks
Security

Gone down the drain

And here I am
Talking about my life and my love and my dreams
When some of us can’t afford to have any of these things in life
When people roam the streets to be seen
Because on the streets is the only time
We pay attention to what they need
That they need us just as much as we need them
There is no us and them
It’s only we

Where is our humanity
Our hope
Our faith

What do we believe in?
Do we believe this year will ever end?
That we will return to normal?
To a new normal?

I hold out my hand for you
You reach for mine and look at me
This bond is human strength
Unity

What comes after a year of isolation?

Maria

Maria was listening to the sounds of cars passing her window while writing this poem.