Look to the Sky

Hey you, looking at your screen,
reading articles about healthcare
toilet paper and school closings
You've drummed up quite a scare

Can you stop for moment
Please just do it quickly,
and glance out a window
I know you're not sickly

Slowly breathe in and then let it all out
Tell your brain to rest and to settle its doubt.

Now you might find that the sky,
is just sky-ish and blue
If you look a little closer
It's more than that too

You may find it breathtaking
In quite a "good" way
And breathing in slowly
and deeply you'll say,

"It's like pink candy-ribbons
that ripple beneath clouds,
that while full, black and dark
takes my mind off of crowds"

Or perhaps you'll see slivers
Fading sunlight tucked behind
Guess what? It is there for us,
There... to remind.

Re-mind?

Our mindset is skewed
A wild toy top out of
alignment.
BUT, we can pull through this
together and survive the
confinement.

When you feel
it's all too much
breathe deeply
and hold-
pause one more
second,
exhale long
and behold!

The birds are still chirping
and we are still feeling.
The world that's around us
won't always be reeling.

Tune in what you need to,
turn off what you can.
And look inside to remind you
There is always a plan.

The deep polarization
of this big painful time,
is begging us, pleading
to locate our rhythm,
to use our rhyme.

Republican
Democrat
panic
and
hoax---
are all
here together
each weighed down
by dense cloaks

Disrobing feels uncomfortable
shedding fear cracks us open
But this is the place
we can build from...
I'm hoping?

It is no longer
them they or their
Also not I me or you
There is only US left
We all know this is true

TOGETHER is where
we have all ended up now
The place where we were
all meant to be anyhow

So into communities
and homes we must
go....
But, hurray
Permission to just
Let it all go!

Try to adjust
to this new normal
pace
And take in a moment
to examine a face

Freedom to notice,
to really SEE your son.
The lines on his face,
or how he can run.

Let judgment slip fast
like a silky
hair ribbon
and feel the weight
of your blankets
and the blessings
we're given

We aren't provided
much time to live
and be loud
Why not dance
and be silly,
Be awkward and
proud.

Just BE in your
body, your
healthy strong
vessel
and if you fall
ill then rest,
take time just
to nestle

We can reset
or refuse
recharge
or infuse

Create love or disdain
Garner wisdom or pain

Chances and choices
Lessons and voices

Take it one step
at time,
One moment, then the next
Feel into your feelings
when you have urges
to text

Be

Here

Now

We can undo the
numbing and
the natural reactions
and counter with
bigger more adaptive
transactions.

Listen to music
carefully...
eat dinner with
intention...
Draw pictures
with family...
create an invention

A chance to grow
through
what we go through,
now that's a rare gift
Time to look through
old photos
Through memories,
just sift.

Or sleep and dream
And talk and play
Whatever you do
don't squander the
day.

Fear wants us
captured and bound
with regret
The what ifs and
questions, and
mounting up debt.

Stay grounded
and whole,
it will all work out
in the end-
Finish a project,
Call up a friend,

Let's be brave and
stay calm
Be careful and
use smarts
And together
we will all walk
each other
back to our hearts.