NaPoWriMo 1

I wish I could say
that when this is all over
we will know that it is over

that all our friends will be
back together if not
gainfully employed

that when we cross the street
it will be because we want
to get to the other side

that we will realize we were
going wrong in so many ways we will
never make the same mistakes again

that a new skin will develop
over the old scars
even the new scars will heal

that realistically speaking
even one life lost is too much
in the face of the avoidable

that we will have flattened
not the globe but the curve
and the earth is still standing

that the air will not just seem
cleaner or the grass greener
here on the other side

not just because it turns out
we have burned out and burned out
and burned out and burned out

and now even the bridges are
collapsing all around us
see this plume of dust rising

and as the sun breaks behind
an approximation of a cloud
and as we weather the storm

if not the changes we will
be able to say I wish these were
the things I did not have to say

because they have all been said
and repeated again and into
the silence over and done

even in the face of the camera
we never noticed before
reflecting the light no one ever sees

until there is nothing
unprecedented
left to say

I wish I could say this but I can not