From Me to You to Us All

Many days have passed since the arrival of your last message.

How many, I cannot say.

Each blends into the next.

Spring has turned to Summer behind our backs;

Now the daylight wakes us and keeps us awake.

We live like astronauts afloat in anti-gravity,

Only glimpses to ground us and guide us.

Moments are mountains

And memories are mysteries.

Oxygen is suspect.

All is alien.

In truth, we crash landed.

It was unexpected, unrelenting.

We scrambled.

It was urgent, unforgiving.

Eyes open, we pressed on.

It’s clear we have landed somewhere new.

New standards.

New routines.

New togetherness.

New loneliness.

I’ve stumbled in this new terrain.

The obstacles were invisible

And hard to navigate.

On this new planet,

The rocks are mirrors.

I missed them because I was them.

But they are also me,

And I am changed.

I am new.

What has become of you on this Long Day?

What have you found?

When you don your mask,

Your helmet,

Your suit,

What changes around you?

When you return to your chamber,

What has changed in you?

This Day, this Planet –

Has it kept you safe?

For in it, I see fear and uncertainty,

Growth and adaptation.

Stabilization.

Transformation.

Breathing in this new life,

We pause.

We are careful.

What visitor knocks outside us?

We are patient.

What champion dwells within us?

Breathing out this new world,

We resume.