Grief and Beauty During the Pandemic

My granddogs Cali and Chloe at Chestermans

In this time of the pandemic,
when so many are dying
and so many more are in denial,
rollicking on crowded beaches,
maskless, fearless, (until
the first symptoms appear)

In this time of the pandemic,
with a president spouting untruths
and vitriol, in a world gone mad
with ache and rage

I don't have to look far
to see the haloes, floating,
unseen, above the heads
of the nurses, the doctors,
the cleaning staff of our local hospital,
walking smilingly into sickrooms,
and helping.

They are as afraid of the virus as I,
maybe more afraid, for they have seen
all that covid can do, worked long
into the night to save a life
slipping away,
returned in the morning
to fight for one more day.

Unseen haloes hover above the heads
of the clerks at the CoOp, bagging our food;
shine above First Nations guardians,
turning away traffic at the gates
of their communities,
to keep their people safe.

One day we'll say "Remember
how it was during the pandemic,
when we all sheltered in place,
wore masks, stepped aside
to let each other pass,
when we followed the rules
to keep each other safe?"
It is a time of unnoticed heroics,
of courage, of hands held out,
of protecting the old
and the children.
It is a time when the bravest
walk into the fire,
to do what needs to be done,
while everyone else walks away.

We are watching the crazed world implode.
My heart overflows with
combined grief and beauty:
grief at the injustice, at all the dying,
the hatred and division, the racial slurs,
of so much that is so wrong;
yet also with hope, as people march in the streets
demanding change whose time has come.
How beautiful they are
with their Black Lives Matter and
Indigenous Lives Matter placards.
How strong, as they face the rows
of militarized police, row on row,
standing firm  with brave eyes,
haloes tilted rakishly above
the unexpected foot soldiers
of peace.

Meanwhile, in this crossroads of
left versus right,  justice versus might,
there is the beauty
of blue-green water with white-tipped waves
rolling endlessly into shore;
of happy, smiling dogs,
who know no pandemic,
who know nothing but love and joy,
their innocence, in the beauty
and the terror of this world,
bringing me to tears.

Inspired by The Pandemic Halo by Jime Moore, and Wild Writing with Laurie Wagner