KEEP BREATHING

The world is wider than I recall

and emptier than it should be.

Where have so many millions gone?

Covid took too many from me.

Now, As I venture forth again

I note the changes new to me:

Fewer check out lines open

where I can chat with clerks

who may offer the only conversation

I shall have that day.

Longer waits in self-check-out lines,

for coffee, burgers, groceries, medications,

buses and airlines.

Play dates carefully screened and often up-ended

by bouts of surprise illness, unintended.

Careful scrutiny of each gathering attended

by risk-takers and isolaters frustrated

and ready to accept the fate

breathing without masks indicates.

The pace of life becomes a distraction.

Forward process toward goals proceeds

in fits and starts reducing our momentum.

It amazes me how well we all cope

with uncertain patterns not before seen,

futures unknown yet still filled with hope.

The one thing which has not changed

is our determination to remain the same,

to keep on the path to parts unknown,

to find an adventure far from home,

to explore new people, places and things.

We are still alive. We bravely take wing.

There is life to live and love to give.

There is love to receive and life to accept.

We constantly find faith deep within

that joy is still ours, if we only give in

to the need to connect with others

and breathe life in.