THE PAUSE
Mother Earth has settled,
No longer rocked by our busyness
She embraces the new quiet,
Inhaling forgotten fume free air.
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Her animals are curious now
Goats venture into a somnolent town,
Urban foxes relax
And explore our iconic buildings & bridges
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Ghost buses worm their way on deserted roads,
A lonely driver, sporadic passengers.
No chat, no muffled music,
Silent as a church.
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Cyclists claim the streets,
Walkers the paths.
Birds sing their joy,
In the new peace.
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Week after week of languid Sundays,
Tumbling slowly one after another.
Days without punctuation,
Devoid of deadlines.
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Life in suspended animation.
No planning, no looking forward,
Living in the moment,
In abundant time.
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We are all here
Calmly, waiting.
Not thinking yet of how this finally ends,
Or of how we rebuild our work.
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Because that’s too hard,
It will unsettle us deeply.
We need to stay still,
To stay compliant.
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So we focus instead on staying safe,
On staying sane.
On being quiet,
And sometimes it feels like we are healing.
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