Love-in-the-Time-of-Coronavirus.docxLove in the Time of Coronavirus
by Sam Pierstorff, @njapoet
Six feet feels like a hundred miles
when handshakes are forbidden and high fives
have been replaced by winks and head nods
like we are all flirting inside a crowded bar,
but the bar is our kitchen—the strangers
are our neighbors walking past dusty windows
that we all finally have time to clean.
The sun comes and goes.
Today, the sky’s heart breaks
and its tears wash our faith down gutters.
Tomorrow, the sun shines brightly
between two dog-shaped clouds,
so we smile and wag our own tails
because hope is on the horizon again.
Schools close, yet when children
open their laptops their kindergarten teacher
is there to read Dr. Seuss from her sofa
and to welcome them to class.
Restaurants shutter, yet customers
continue to roll up curbside to receive
a hot meal and a bottle of vintage Cabernet.
Hospitals are filled, yet doctors and nurses
still don their superhero capes and fly into action.
This pandemic, we have learned,
will force us to keep our distance,
will make us wash our hands,
will lock us indoors for days,
but it cannot kill love.
Love will always find a way
to spread faster than any virus.
So smile and take a deep breath.
Be grateful that you still can
because there is so much more
love needed in our world
if we are ever going to heal.
Sam Pierstorff
Editor-in-Chief, Quercus Review Press
Professor of English, Modesto Junior College
Poet Laureate, ModestoView
@NinjaPoet
