In The Still of Still

I walked one pandemic afternoon
in a landscape of widespread quiet.
My uncomfortable conscience
rife with loud anxiety,
absorbed the din of absence.
Should I be afraid?

Not enough scratches about the sky,
absent coughing from busy roads,
school children hiding from their bells, 
all the air felt empty and unknowing.
Swarms of busy city and pervasive people
had escaped into a vast nowhere of caution.
Is the air OK?

As I stepped through my walk
a feeling of time paused,
The void was by my side.



The vision of trees and sky offered a reminder
that my feet were still on comfortable earth.