They came in droves lined one by one, six feet apart.  Among the numbers, hearts beating in time with paired breath, struggling. Then carried, draped in sterile cloth with icy feet, eyes glassy and waiting.  Given fluids to replenish, skin pierced and cut to infuse, detect…ultimately drained of life.

The simultaneously erect and sloping numbers, divided by commas. How many tens, hundreds, thousands, and all the while the faces intermingled and hiding in those towering shadows. The many loves, laughs, joys, and triumphs… the late-night talks, endless travels, slow dances, battle scars, marches of protest, hugs and snuggles, now soaked with sweat, blood, fear… all faded with the last gasp.

To be bade goodbye, absolved of sins, doused with tears, and draped in white silence, sheltered in the cold, one by one, forming mountains as statues to the unnecessary indifference. There was no warning, they say. Only to rise in unison, oh, the waves of souls roaring in the wind, smashing limitless holes in the atmosphere, only to leave loved ones with the anvil depth of their departure. The stone that must be lifted in their wake, that drags at their feet and paints their thoughts with darkness and a necrotizing sorrow, devouring dreams.

With wilted flowers and ascension in a continual symbiosis, turning the world asunder. How can this be with so many in a seemingly endless cycle like the minuscule contagion that caused this?

Is this not a reckoning of our thoughts and deeds? This is the current palpable space that we inhabit.

-A.D.B.