Anacatalina Sacher

B4

Before

Sun kissed summer afternoons

Open space

Impulsive days out with friends 

Pants rolled up feet in the sand 

Loud lunches at tightly packed tables 

Causal touch 

Sitting at a bakery by myself enjoying a meal

Movies 

Concerts 

Handshakes 

Not caring about distance 

Now 

The calm yellow light of my bedroom 

Constant inside the four walls of home

Planning even a trip to the corner store for milk

Remember to take your mask

No more eating out

Haven’t hugged a friend in months

Not worth the risk

Streaming 

Delayed for a year, might have to fly down from college

Elbow bumps 

Six feet apart 

We never know it’s before until we reach the after

Walking side by side, mornings with classroom laughter

Days spent on the beach, breaths intermingling with friends

Its hard to be grateful for a little thing, until that little thing ends

Time spent in school and sports and sleep

Every moment taken up with a schedule to keep

Annoyed greatly by rain and more by heat 

All wasn’t perfect, though we remember it as sweet

With the wave comes the crash, and we all crash alone

Faces covered by masks with eyes glued to a phone

Some take advantage, while others fray like strings 

We may in cages, but we haven’t lost our wings

Time for opening books and reading for fun

Now a privilege to feel the feel the blistering sun 

Isolation is motivation taken to the extreme

An extrovert’s nightmare, but an introvert’s dream

Though we may miss the freedom of walking school halls

Or talking to friends without making calls

We now have time to start doing, hours that languish and last

We should appreciate the present as much as we romanticize the past

If we look back through rose colored glasses, we have a left a garden behind

But roses have thorns with ridges and spines

Our present thorns may cut us and snag at our clothes

But, one day, we may look back and wish for a rose