the rhythm, melody and lyrics
of my ancestral birthright
echo through the emptiness

the old songs resonate as
a choir of blood sings
vibrating the threads
that are woven into the tapestry
of all that i am by the lives of
my mothers and fathers
connecting me to them
with an untearable fabric

and as my thread
weaves in and out
i appear, disappear and reappear
travelling through family cloth
on the songs of those
that have gone before

and i fear none
as we all sing our song
to the tempo of the sands of time
as they fall into the future

in the end,
hopefully
it seems that all
was for nothing.
that means that
our goal
has been met.
as a family of humans,
around the whole world,
we came together
and kept
our distance.
in doing so
we defeated an
invisible enemy.
together.

to find a glimmer of light
in this sea of
blackened thoughts
is like trying to find a torch
that is the treasure marked
with an X on a foreign map
written in an unknown tongue
in the middle of the thick darkness
known by subterranean dwellers

think happy thoughts
they say
keep a journal of gratitude
they say
focus on the positive
they say

they
have never experienced
the depth of hopelessness
found at the height of despair

the stress
of this thing
is heavy like a  
weighted blanket
casting blue shadows
across crispy kindling-dry
landscapes of the world's future
with a grey thunderhead towering
to the invisible foothills of olympus
miniaturizing all i've ever been
and all i could ever hope to be
while gut-churning claps of
deafening news follow the
terror-bright disease;
luminous arteries
that reach down
from heaven
to char the
earth

long ago my dreams were forged
from molten sands of time
shining stained glass
intricate lacework mosaics
fit for a cathedral
then shattered
scattered
and lost
throughout the endless
heaven of your heart
by the thought
of your
love

how am i supposed to

keep the house clean
while
doing my office job from home
while
home schooling my three kids
while
distancing myself from everyone
while
being so stressed about coronavirus
that
it feels like i've done a week's work
by tuesday

and

how do i do it all
without paper towels

i am tired

but i am still healthy