Lucy and The Pandemic

Lucy’s life had turned upside down

She couldn’t believe she was back in this town

She had been doing so well at college

At the school in the north with the pretty fall foliage

There she was busy with classes and friends 

Busy Monday through Friday and on the weekends

But now there’s a pandemic and alone she sits

Sleeping and crying and throwing fits

She can’t believe this is what she once wanted

Taking online classes while wearing pajamas 

Oh what she’d give to get out of her home

To have somewhere to go, to be free to roam

But she’s trapped at home for how long no one knows

And she hates it and screams “this freakin’ blows!”

She has school work to do, but she can’t think

It’s all overwhelming, she’s starting to sink

She’s anxious, she’s sad, she’s very confused

She thought she had a grip on these spiraling moods

But being ripped from her friends, cause that’s how it feels

Has caused Lucy to wonder if she has healed

She’s back in her bed and on her phone 

Scrolling and scrolling while all alone

It’s not her fault, there’s nothing to do

She can’t even get food at a drive through 

(There are none in her town, plus, you know, quarantine)

She worries about her mental health

And decides to get a little help

She calls her therapist and gets a reminder 

To treat herself a little kinder

“These are tough times” her therapist says

"Everyone is wanting to stay in their beds

But you have learned from tough times before

When you could barely get off of the floor

Take small steps like make your bed

Meditate, FaceTime a friend

Make a routine and you’ll get through it

I know you can, now go and do it”

Lucy hung up and thought “Yes, that’s true.

I know what I have to do.”

She put on some clothes and took her dog for a walk

They went half way around the block 

And when they got back, she lay in her bed

'Cause Rome wasn’t built in a day, as it’s said

But slowly and surely just like before

Each week she did just a little bit more

She cleaned Bud’s fish bowl and walked with her mother

Gardened with her dad and baked with her brother 

She sent her advisor an inquiring email

About taking her classes Pass, D and Fail

The burden she felt was starting to lift

Even if sometimes her mind was adrift

She worked very hard to just stay busy

And walked her dog Walter even when it was drizzly

She played her guitar, she crocheted and she colored

She made her own pie crust with two sticks of butter

She talked with her therapist once a week

And things started to feel a little less bleak

She FaceTimed her friends every day 

They imagined when they could get away

Where they could go when quarantine was over

What new places they could discover

Which dorm they‘ll live in when school restarts 

Who is the best professor in Fine Arts

They celebrate birthdays via Zoom

All while wishing they were in the same room

Remote friendships aren’t the best

But it’s all they can do during this mess

Two months in quarantine with her family

Lucy stops viewing it as a calamity

She has friends and her family and a new skein of wool

She crochets and she thinks her glass is half full