'twas the night before quarantine

and all through the town, not a restaurant was open, not a school-bus was found.

 

and sanitizers were placed by all doorposts with care, in hopes that

Corona would never come there.

 

The children were swinging from the crystal chandeliers, and the

stir-crazy babies were almost in tears.

 

with everyone in health masks and live updates on their screens, we

hunkered down and waited for COVID-19.

 

for into our lives with a sneeze and a cough came a global pandemic

and a crash of the stocks. away to the grocery we all flew like a

flash, and bought

 

all the toilet paper for our personal stash. as the moon slowly rose

on our fates and our fears, what to my wandering mind should appear?

in the absence

 

of busyness a new life taking form: in the stillness of solitude, in

the silence of the storm. in the magic of together and home-bound

company, rediscovering

 

connection in our family. so with the pup in her kennel and the

children in their beds, new visions of adventures now danced in my

head! the checklists

 

could wait and the bank accounts would be fine, for we had been given

the most sacred gift of time. so I gathered the markers and crayons

and paints, I

 

collected the nerf guns and assembled board games. with a wink and a

smile I moved on to schoolwork: math facts and science and vocabulary

words. I laughed

 

as I thought it, in spite of myself, "what if quarantine can heal our

emotional health?" if the birds are still singing and if the flowers

still bloom,

 

surely the sunshine can overcome our gloom. if we set aside fear and

choose kindness instead, maybe we'll all begin to realize we have

nothing to dread.

 

I tucked back into bed and smiled up at the moon, for a peace had

replaced the impending doom. so take heart and take hope through this

curious plight,

 

and "happy quarantine to all" until we're allowed to reunite."

 

 

Author unknown