The threat of the Pandemic wears thin, turns lean,

A muddle of gaunt days and anorexic dreams;

We heal from a year of promise that left us pilfered,

Of hope, of health, of humanity, of hugs unfiltered;

Did the pandemic teach me? Did it train me? Did it change me?

I didn’t un-fear the unknown – my breath caught in my throat,

My mind wandering to dark places, in spaces alone, adrift, afloat.

 

Across the globe, it wrapped icy fingers, frigid as death,

Choking streets in stifling silence, a tight clasp of quiet;

We heal from a year of promise that left us pilfered,

The patter of feet, the chatter of children lay hindered;

Did the pandemic teach me? Did it train me? Did it change me?

I didn’t live my dream; dreams delayed became the anthem retold,

Put on hold while I held on, curious – would they ever unfold?

 

Neighbors played symphonies on balconies and tennis across terraces,

Prayers composed an orchestra of lament, faith flourished in furnaces;

We heal from a year of promise that left us pilfered,

Church services and school lunches – indefinitely deferred;

Did the pandemic teach me? Did it train me? Did it change me?

I didn’t buy a business or learn a language or script a song,

Neither did the steps on my smartwatch come too far along.

 

And, yet.

 

A year so dramatic can’t leave you unchanged, unaltered, unruffled,

Plans unraveled, but my bed became an altar, and God unrivaled;

Now we heal from a year of promise that left us pilfered,

And in the stillness I find joy in His love unfettered;

Did the pandemic teach me? Did it train me? Did it change me?

I savor the sweetness of the simple, I breathe deeper, I love harder,

I plunge the depths of uncertainty and unbridled fear,

And even there uncover the unrelenting love of my Saviour.

 

 

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