Three children and I am
Their only hope.
Closed borders have cut us off from every relation of blood
They have ever known.

Shelter in place
Ripping apart the supports we once relied on.
There is no world now
But us.

There are these walls,
This patch of ground,
And me,
Between them
And the chaos outside.
I am the barrier
And I am also the provider
The teacher
The soother
The only pillar that didn't fall.

And I am holding it all,
Piecing it all together
With tired hands.
I stand alone
Broken and strong
Taking one more step
One more breath
One more minute
In a life that has become
Very small;
So small that I feel it might just
Disappear.

I fade in place
And still conjure one more day
From an infinite emptiness.

Her footsteps were as light as could be
as she ran across the void,
glowing in the cloudless night
as far as the eye could see.
She stopped slowly, eyes wide with realization,
She could be free.

So, she stood, head held high;
Shoulders stiff, holding the weight of the sky,
as she faced her labyrinth of pain.
Of lies and suffering.
Of utter agony.

She let not one tear fall
as she walked on,
determined to flee from the place
she had once called her safe haven.

They never did see her again.
She disappeared without a trace.
Lost inside her own mind, they said.

Oh well,
She was one of many they had to pull the plug on.

She wouldn’t notice it anyway.

They never did.