The spaces we shared
Were emptied
And all that made us human
All that made us… us
Was gone
Slowly
We learned new ways
To have meaning
Purpose
New ways to love
And be loved
In return
Slowly
We learned new ways
To have meaning
Purpose
New ways to love
And be loved
In return
Familiar becomes
Other while other becomes
All too familiar
Unmoved by the tides
Steadfast in the currents
An oasis of calm in the tumult
The waves break upon me
Then slide back to the ocean
Their energy dissipated
Until the sea itself
Is becalmed
Is there nothing quite so extraordinary
As a gathering of the confused
The bewildered
The shocked
All finding comfort and strength
Through others no stronger than we
We discover
In our collective strength
And courage
And wisdom
And tenacity
How much of these
We each ourselves posses
Armed with them
We super humans of faith
And possibility
We master what was unmasterable
We triumph when tragedy seemed certain
Oh, we magnificent beings
Who would ever suspect
We were capable of such things
When observing ourselves
In just the everyday?
None but ourselves
But that is all we need remember
I watch them
And wonder if they notice me
Or if I’d remember them
Without this photograph
Each of us in our discrete worlds
Beyond each other
I watch them
And know we’re all connected
Not just in that spiritual sense
But in the sense that one small event
In a place far far away
Can touch us all