I thought it would be done by now.
History and scientific wisdom belied my hopes
But I wanted to believe.
Surely we would mask.
Surely we would stay apart.
Surely we would listen.
Friends argued against shutdowns.
(They still do.)
People who’d never heard of hydroxychloroquine
Knew it would turn the tide.
It didn’t.
Half a million Americans aren’t wrong
As they lie in judgment of those still living.
And here we are
Some of us still masked
Some of us still separate
Some of us listening
Some of us vaccinated
But none of us free
As a second year begins.