A Poem: Bewilderment

(If you are looking for my short novel, A Matter of the Soul, click here)

This time of pandemic has brought a lot of changes in people’s lives. For me, it has meant that I have more time for writing. I intend to use this blog to share some of my current writing, particularly as most of it relates to the pandemic in some way. Some of it you may merely find interesting, but other pieces may touch your heart. They may resonate with you in a way that helps you understand better how you fit in this confusing time or what this time demands of you. They may also in some way give you a sense of peace.

This poem considers our response to life in the covid-19 pandemic and the changes that are coming as civilization attempts a return to normal.

Bewilderment

Well-adjusted was a picture
Seated in the car driving to work
Kids in school and daycare
Spouse at their own office
Each one in their place

Every Friday
Family dinner out
Saturday date night
Soccer practice, swim lessons
Each night had its slot

Or without a family
Dinners out with friends
Conversant on movies
Musicians, all that’s new
Shopping the latest designs

Then came the upheaval
Workplaces closed down
Shopping only for essentials
Lessons and games curtailed
Gatherings outlawed

The rules have changed
But we will survive
We will wait this out
Soon to be back to normal
Business as usual

This might not end, they say
You might go back to work
But no gatherings
Continue to maintain your distance
It’s a new normal

We shake our head
Try to understand
A return to work with new rules
To survive as a person
As a country
Financial survival

Well, we are the resilient ones
We survive
We learn the new rules
And move forward
Just tell us what to do
And if you don’t tell us, we’ll figure it out

The picture of well-adjustment narrows
Some will fit
Make the transition
With no fear, no health concerns
No loved ones hit by the virus
They wear masks with ease
Manage physical distance

Some will wait
Buoyed by hope
Confident the new world will hold a place
For them and their loved ones
A new world with new rules
History rewritten

Some will flounder
Ill with virus symptoms
Broke and homeless
Stuck in fear of the new world
Resources depleted
Hopeless

Look around you and inside you
Acknowledge bewilderment
You can give up
Surrender to hopelessness
Or accept the new order
Whatever it is
In hope it will save you
Or you can live
In the middle of it all

Nothing is as it was
Nothing is as you thought
Fling aside all spoken
And unspoken
Expectations

Live in the tremble
Of the unknown
Dare to find the in-between spaces
Between laughing and weeping
Up and down
Serenity and fear
Accept bewilderment

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