Camp NaNoWriMo Day 15: What Animals Think of Us Social Distancing – A Poem

I’ve read and been intrigued by articles about wildlife taking over now-quiet city streets. Sometimes I wonder what they must think of all of this!

Through My Eye

a COVID-19 poem by Lauren Hallstrom

 

I have made my home

in the upper corner of the porch,

atop a pillar

where they have put spikes to prevent me,

but still I stay.

I have collected each knobbed twig

that was dampened with rain

so that I may twist and weave it to my will.

It is a great view of the world from this perch.

I have learned that the building’s clear partition

that separates inside from outside

is called a window,

through which you cannot fly but merely look.

Through it I can see that the humans are

frolicking about and chattering at each other.

I can see one is leaving now—

a face covering hanging from his ears.

There are fewer people about, lately;

I find myself unbothered.

The trails they have carved in the earth

to travel on have been left nearly empty.

I cannot understand it.

Perhaps the people are hibernating.

Perhaps they are afraid of the world.

When I spread my wings and launch myself upwards

and let myself flit about the sky,

I savor the trees that are forever reaching up

and the rivers that trace every creature’s home.

I see a world draped in color.