Afterwards AKA Bitter Sweet

AFTERWARDS AKA. BITTER SWEET.

COVID-19

We emerge, blinking, into a new world. Sunshine kisses our pale skin and assaults our senses.
Freedom feels unnatural.
Sloth like we check our surroundings,  seeing things in a new light. Suddenly appreciating the things we previously took for granted.
Someone comes into view. We hesitate as we look at each other, we smile, still wary of getting too close, but wanting to engage. We allow each other to pass. Emotions overlap, it will take time for the fear to leave us.
We cry a little, sorrow for the human race.
We keep walking.  Taking in businesses that are still locked down. Will they ever return or are they too just blinking and feeling their way into a new world.
There are few people around, leaving towns looking post apocalyptic.  The eerie silence is deafening. In the distance, the sound of an engine, but no sign of a vehicle. The breeze carries the sound from who know how far, it dies away. The sound overtaken by a birds cry, nature has never seemed so loud.
Hedges overgrown and front gardens being reclaimed by nature. We may never again get the chance to appreciate the sheer beauty of stillness but the cost of that appreciation is too high a price to pay.