Lifting Our Spirits: ‘Twas The Night Before Quarantine’

The Night Before Quarantine
‘Twas the night before quarantine and
all through the town,
not a restaurant was open,
not a school-bus was found.

hand sanitizers were placed by
all doorposts with care,
in hopes that Corona would
never come there.

the children were swinging from
the crystal chandeliers, and
the stir-crazy babies were
almost in tears.

with everyone in health masks and
live updates on their screens,
we hunkered down and
waited for COVID-19.

for into our lives with
a sneeze and a cough
came a global pandemic and
a crash of the stocks.

away to the grocery
we all flew like a flash, and
bought all the toilet paper
for our personal stash.

as the moon slowly rose on
our fates and our fears,
what to my wandering mind
should appear?

in the absence of busyness
a new life taking form: in
the stillness of solitude, in
the silence of the storm.

in the magic of together and
home-bound company,
rediscovering connection in
our family.

so with the pup in her kennel and
the children in their beds,
new visions of adventures
now danced in my head!

the checklists could wait and
the bank accounts would be fine, for
we had been given the most
sacred gift of time.

so I gathered the markers and
crayons and paints,
I collected the nerf guns and
assembled board games.

with a wink and a smile I
moved on to schoolwork:
math facts and science and
vocabulary words.

I laughed as I thought it,
in spite of myself,
“what if quarantine can heal our
emotional health?”

if the birds are still singing and
if the flowers still bloom,
surely the sunshine can
overcome our gloom.

if we set aside fear and
choose kindness instead,
maybe we’ll all begin to realize
we have nothing to dread.

I tucked back into bed and
smiled up at the moon, for
a peace had replaced the
impending doom.

so take heart and take hope
through this curious plight, and
“happy quarantine to all”