the news broke in January 

in February, people started to panic

very soon the world became a different place 

we began to feel abandoned by our leadership 

we were misled, it wasn’t a hoax

the world around us began to shrink 

and for the first time in recent memory, there was no business as usual 

there was no life

only a growing number of distant deaths that slowly began to feel closer 

a government that told us what to do without helping 

a gargantuan economy reduced to panic and abandonment

we suddenly focused on the present rather than the future 

until it became too painful to focus on anything 

and in our helplessness we drowned 

swept away by uncertainty and fear 

how does this story end? 

not with the president 

not with the police 

not with the citizens 

only with hope 

does it make us uncomfortable that for once we are not in control?

something so small has disrupted our world 

and something so big is happening, everywhere 

maybe we will learn to take care of each other 

maybe we will be so weakened that we will need to rebuild 

or perhaps we will move on and forget it ever happened 

and it will live on in the history books as another mistake 

a section in a chapter of a long curriculum written to remind us of our invincibility 

the eternal lie