Butterflies and Hurricanes

I guess what gets to me the most is not knowing, you know?

Not knowing when this will end

Not knowing how this will change us 

How many people will die 

How many people will suffer

In a world that already tries to peg squares into round holes

COVID-19 has left us feeling even more lost and disoriented 

Smearing a fresh new layer of forced isolation on 

A sea of people who were already lonely 

Is like plastering a broken wall with cheap paint

It doesn’t paint a happy picture, does it?

We didn’t need this, to be honest 

But sometimes we don’t even know what we need

So who am I to question it? 

Who am I in the vast entirety of it? 

Who am I, indeed

Carl Sagan’s words never leave me 

Every saint and sinner lives here 

On this tiny speck of dust suspended in a sunbeam

And I feel liberated and terrified at the same time 

I’m not afraid of what it will do to us 

As much as I’m afraid of where it will take us 

Despite all the warnings and red flags 

How did we… how did we end up here?

I only hope that it doesn’t cause too much 

destruction in its wake 

And we learn a thing or two from it once it’s over

In the meantime, let’s take it one day at a time 

Cry if you must, laugh once in a while 

Find some time to heal as well

And one day we’ll find ourselves asking each other 

“Hey, remember the time we were all locked up in our houses?

That was crazy.”