Feeling Apocalyptic

Then Jesus took bread, and after blessing it,
he broke it, and gave it to absolutely nobody,
for they were social distancing.

I had a recurring fantasy as a child.
In it, a perfect copy was made of Earth
—without the humans.

Only I had access to this New Earth
via a small space ship,
which was also a time machine.

I would visit human-free Earth
at various intervals
to see how things were going.

I can still see nature taking over
Manhattan, Paris, and Montréal:
the moose grazing in Central Park,

the thick vines that finally succeeded
in scaling the wrought-iron lattice
of the Eiffel Tower,

the black bear and her cubs
eating wild black raspberries
on the sunny side of Mount Royal.

But today, as I walk through empty streets,
playing Will Smith in a low-budget
Québécois remake of I Am Legend,

entitled I Am Social Distancing,
I find that I really miss all the people
of Old Earth.

It’s miserable outside and I’m loving it.
When you’re stuck inside on a gorgeous sunny day,
the blue sky itself seems to be mocking you.

But this dreary grey October day makes sense.
Rarely has the weather
so perfectly mirrored my mood.

—John Faithful Hamer, Social Distancing (2020)