Teacher, mentor and friend

We all have friends who will die of this.
We will all stare down the angel of regret
and long for one more conversation

one more hug,
all the while being told to stay put
to hold our distance.

A son will be quarantined here
while his mother dies alone somewhere else.

A woman will cry on her doorstep
unable to drive to her friend in hospital.

The students will lose teachers,
and the teachers will mourn their students.

The elders of the time that is ending
will leave us to get on with the burials
and reformation that is needed.

We will wake in the dead of night
searching for the spirit of the one who is departing.

We will wail behind locked doors,
many of us without witnesses.

May we remember through this grief
all the beauty of those who are sacrificed

on the altar of change.
The planes have been grounded.

The borders are closed.

The parks are empty.

This is how it should be.

This is how it is.

 

By Lucille Greeff