Come and gone
In the blink of an eye, yet like a long, drawn out, never-ending day
Or groundhog day
Began so normal and hopeful
Full of standard resolutions and valentine plans
Quickly pivoting before winter’s cold hands had released us
Turning to fear, judgment, sickness, death
Yet marked by families together, love, kindness, a new awareness
Kids gathered here, draped across the couches, art projects on the table
School halls long and empty, friends and toilet paper escaping us
Walks, so many walks, avoiding neighbors, averting eyes, nervously
While jobs and stores and restaurants and parents dropped to their knees, crippled
Grasping at new ways of survival
Our hearts, already heavy, broken into pieces by a knee on a neck, a jogger hunted, a sleeping woman taken forever
A leader standing by, kicking rocks in the gutter, burning it down while we beg
A time so divided and also so loving
Good beating evil, in tiny ways, baby steps
Hope for change
Hope for a time when we can stop hiding from droplets
Longing for pushing in crowds, music, lines, my house full and loud with friends’ laughter
2020 leaving behind so much trauma, but much proof of our strength
As we continue to hug hard, lean on each other from afar
Cry for what we lost and what we learned
Still divided as the next 365 days unfold before us
Like a blooming flower or a terrifying abyss
Each of us trying to be resolved and sure of who we are now
Hopefully poised to love harder, fight for others, appreciate all that we’ve missed
Knowing that no matter what, we will never be the same