Coming to terms with Covid-19 and Preparing to Move On

Finding comfort in the sun

Photo taken by the author: Porto, Portugal

I’m enjoying the sun that’s arriving
I look back on the long days of confinement
endured
— but not alone
With the rest of the world
United in our solitude

It came out of the blue
hardship ensued
It leaves a weariness in my bones
from the lack of life
lack of routine
An unusual visitor
A virus unseen

Media scrambles
to find words for the strife
no need to dazzle us
the pandemic gave us a fright
Speechless for once
the world stands back

I find my own way to make sense of the disarray
I make my assumptions
Why listen to them anyway?
Yet I might get a few tips
between the hyper-mania and fear

Mostly I retreat
They tell me how I should react
and respond

In fear, they tell us to run back
Back to what?
There’s no running back
Things are still as they are
Nothing has really changed

Those who lost loved ones is the hardest to bear
I shed tears for them
As I say a prayer

As for me
I am grateful
He spared me
One more day

To rest
in the sun
and not to turn back
to prior ways
But to press on

I stay here
in the present
beneath the sun
Recovering from the Covid run.

Thank you for reading!

Orla Kenny, 2021