Fifty

In all my years upon the Earth
This was the strangest since my birth
The year the ghostly virus struck
When time stood still and things got stuck

A year locked down under the dome
A chance to think, to be at home
A year of sickness and of death
When nature took a gasping breath

The crystal streams, the silent sky
The empty streets, the question why
The heartbeat of a world at rest
A seismic pause, a global test

Although we mourn for what is lost
We must reflect and count the cost
Of what will be our child’s regret
If we ignore the Great Reset

The end of coal, the peak of oil
The time to restore living soil
The promise of a solar dawn
An end to night, a brand-new dawn

A year of distance and of fear
A chance to love all we hold dear
A year of endings and of pain
When all good things must start again

Whatever challenges we face
This is our moment to embrace
A bigger view, a longer range
My fiftieth, the Year of Strange