As the sun sets, I face the dark night that taunts me with my goal.
We grope in the gloomy facets of twilight, warm with the hope
that in between the fleeting aeons we will burn in darkness;
but we have yet to see ourselves — lured from a night when ugliness has no face —
transfigured in the sun.
Weeks of sleepless nights and deepest thoughts have come to naught, or so it seems.
I flirt upon the edge of dreams.
Oh moon, whisper to me the innocence of your caress and spark a dawn,
which while it may not define us, will make us endure.
The coronavirus pandemic is bound to change our lives, not only at an individual level but as a global community with societal, economical and political repercussions. Our routines give way to social distancing; our smiles are totally masked out; “back to normal” may be a thing of the past as this pandemic alters fundamentally the way we live.
Could the end be in sight? Um, the virus that is…
With infection statistics still rising, one could be tempted to give in to desolation amidst our isolation. Questions may give rise to more questions just thinking what could our life become after this pandemic? Will I survive? Will there be the next wave? How do we cope?
Admittedly, we don’t have the answer. Frankly, we still don’t have a cure. But perhaps the allegorical Juan de la Cruz could take solace in the experience of his saintly namesake, to make sense of all this madness:
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*Excerpt from “Dark Night of the Soul” by St. John of the Cross
