Camp NaNoWriMo Day 25: People Are Surprising Themselves – a Poem in Lockdown

So grateful for all the healthcare workers, other essential workers, and the people at home who are making a difference…

People are Surprising Themselves

a COVID-19 poem by Lauren Hallstrom

 

Everywhere around the world,

people are surprising themselves.

They are getting out of bed every day

and stretching their legs

and brewing their own cup of coffee.

 

This is how it goes,

sometimes,

we have to learn how to make ourselves useful.

We have to read the news

and rehearse in our heads

what we would do if we were out there.

Scour the internet and try to figure out

what we can do from here.

 

Still, we are surprising ourselves

with our compassion

and painted rocks and

signs in our windows.

We are congregating behind screens

to listen to a song

someone made yesterday

that makes us remember what beauty is,

that there is more than one way to heal.

 

Some people are taking a deep breath

and stepping out of their doors

and covering their faces and

learning what brave looks like.

 

Others are not believing

and not thinking,

and then here are the rest of us,

doing the little things

over and over and over.