Backpacks

Day 61

Backpacks hang, limp and empty by the door

My sister’s birthday is the only thing on the calendar

May is usually busier than December

Overflowing with events and celebrations

Gone before I know it, leaving me dizzy from the whirlwind.

I had been looking forward to this May

Able to notice the world turning toward warmth

Marking the growth of gardens and the filling out of trees

I had been looking forward to enjoying this slower unfolding of May.

Instead, I hear distant echoes of celebrations,

Like walking in to a banquet hall after a castle has turned into a museum

Looking past the descriptive plaques and peering out the windows 

Almost picturing the twinkling eyes, almost hearing the clinking of glasses

‘What was it like, when this world existed?’

There are eight days of school remaining

The mood is normally crackling with electricity, 

Excitement for the coming summer, sadness to say goodbye, 

promises to see you next year!

Now the air is flat, the normal effervescence gone, like a flute of bubbly left out overnight

This school year will end with a small, sad sigh

A Zoom wave goodbye

The sound of a chromebook lid closing

And no idea what comes next.