Silver Lining: A Poem

This darkness, once it's over.

We might not remember -how right now, we're surviving.

This state of things, this shame it brings.

This isolation, this divided nation.

Our senses, all engaged to inertia.

Our walking life, forced into sleep.

And all of us -lost. Lost in this peace.

This darkness, once it’s over.

We might not remember -how, right now, we’re feeling.

Inside circles, behind masks.

Quiet, gloomy eyes, minding their own tasks.

Strange, how things have changed.

It was smiles before, it's tears now.

It was hope before, it's despair now.

This darkness, once it’s over.

We might now remember -what, right now, we’re going through.

Sharing our lives, from a distance.

Giving love, from a distance.

Seeing ourselves, from a distance.

And seeing the world, from a distance.

This darkness, once it’s over.

We might not remember -what, until now, we’ve given up.

Touch and movement.

Conversation and connection.

And most importantly, freedom.

For life, we’ve given up freedom.

For life, it’s more important than freedom.

Making it out alive, it’s more important than freedom.

This darkness, once it’s over.

We might not remember any of this.

But one thing is certain. Change.

Change is certain.

Before this, before all of this.

Things were good.

But after, things will be better.

Things will change.

Climbing out of this darkness, into the light.

You and I, we’ll change.

We will become better people.

We’ll become more loving, more compassionate.

We’ll become more understanding.

There will be gratitude.

And there will be acceptance.

Everything that -up until now, we’ve been taking for granted,

we no longer will.

The resources that we have at our disposal.

The time that we have at our disposal.

We’ll use it wisely.

We’ll do all that we can.

For ourselves.

For the ones that we love.

And for the nation.

Climbing out of this darkness, into the light.

The world, it’ll change.

It will become a better place.

Rivers -they’ll flow.

The trees -they’ll grow.

Birds -singing.

Voices -ringing.

And through the skies of blue and grey.

The Sun, it’ll be shining.

Because every dark cloud, it has a silver lining.

Every dark cloud, it always has a silver lining.

One thing is very much guaranteed about life, it's that it will not always go well.

This pandemic has affected us all in a lot of different ways. It's ruined a lot of things for a lot of people. Being apart, it's easy to feel disconnected. It's easy to feel stuck, tired, bored, sad, frustrated, anxious. It's easy to feel all of these things. Just know, that it's okay. Not being okay -is okay. Not having everything figured out -is okay. Grieving about what yesterday was and not knowing what tomorrow looks like -it's okay. It's all okay.

Everything that's happening, it might not make sense right now. But this journey has purpose even if you don't see it just yet. Things will change and things will get better. All you need to do is have faith and have strength. You need to find happiness in the little things and hope in the unexpected places. All you need to do is keep going.

And when all of this is over, promise that you'll never take this precious life for granted -the sunrise, the sunset, the fresh air and the ocean. Promise that you'll hug the ones you love so tight and live each day like it's your last. Promise that you'll appreciate this wonderful world that we live in and all the special people that we get to share it with.

I'll be ending this with a beautiful poem by a beautiful artist -Morgan Harper Nichols. "I hope today is one of those days, you find joy right here in the waiting. I hope the uncertainty in this season does not hinder you from creating. You are free to paint new things, without knowing what tomorrow will be. You are free to practice the art of trusting, right here in the wild of waiting. So much is unknown and yet, there is this effortless rhythm called grace, inviting you to go deeper into living, right here, before the future things fall into place."

Sending love and light <3