on a Thursday
the day we were let out of school
for a two
week
break so we could wait
until someone came along,
waved a magic wand,
and the coronavirus went
away.
Well, that didn’t happen,
because
even in Harry Potter
you can’t fix everything.
And none of us are magicians
or wizards
or witches
or anything of that sort,
so COVID-19
decided to stay.
No one invited it,
but some people
held open the door.
Or maybe they hired
a doorman
to stand
(Without a mask)
and hold the door wide
open.
This was the way Corona snuck into our lives…
Suddenly
with no chance of a
goodbye.
Or a “See you in a long time.”
No, but at first, many people
patiently waited.
But after winter weather
turned to spring
even the most patient of us
were restless.
On the 25th of May a man named George Floyd died,
Murdered by the police.
Protests broke out supporting black people in America.
“Black lives matter, black lives matter!” We cried.
Spring turned to summer,
and even more shed tears.
People died without family
at their bedside,
holding their hand.
People died with only an exhausted nurse
who had watched too many
go that day,
and gotten too little sleep.
And still, in a crazed nation,
grown adults partied
with not a thought in mind
that their parents
might
be
next.
Summer gave way to fall,
and in Pennsylvania, many schools turned to virtual learning
once again.
In Washington D.C., a Justice of
the Supreme Court
passed away,
but her story
lives on.
Soon an eventless Halloween will pass by,
And summer will die.
An important election will begin and end,
and the next day, I will turn thirteen.
2020, the beginning of a new
decade
will say goodbye.
And someday life
will return
to normal.
But never will it return
to the normal
we knew
before.