Life in COVID-19

My world was familiar yet large.

Colorful and brimming.

My ears filled with soothing laughter. 

A faint cry in the distance I couldn’t hear.

No one could hear.

But distant no longer

the sound rung in our heads

my life turned upside down 

but the cries were not mine

until they were.

A blurred line 

between an unclear sign 

and an old reality

in decline. 

Tragedy was here

something doubted to arrive

like a hazy vision

that wasn’t alive.

I stay in the emergency lane

life like dog years

a mysterious pain 
all a blear. 

A light at the end of the tunnel.

But won’t there always be fog? 

I no longer understand.

Dreams were once an actuality.

Lost time.

Chugs by.

Actualities were once a dream.

But why?

Grace Courtauld ‘23