You Wouldn’t Have Known
At the airport
you wouldn’t have known,
just looking around,
parents entertaining kids,
people playing cards,
reading,
checking phones,
drinking coffee.
You wouldn’t have known
a storm was brewing
half a world away,
growing in size
and force
and speed,
every minute,
every hour,
every day.
You wouldn’t have known
it was even there.
That one day soon
we would all be
fleeing home,
cutting short our roam,
donning masks
and rubber gloves
and washing hands
until they’re raw.
At the airport,
you just wouldn’t have known.
Ostriches
Hiding our heads in the sand
like a pair of ostriches:
carefree tourists
taking tapas in the afternoon,
savouring cappuccino in the plaza,
souvenir shopping for family,
and strolling by the sea,
pretending not to notice,
masks making their appearance,
not hearing reports of rising rates,
and not registering the scented smell of sanitizer,
all in an effort
to stem the tide of apprehension
as it advanced upon our holidays,
ignoring the certain realization,
that even with heads hidden,
one day,
it would find us out.
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