Written by Julia Carlisle

I find what’s hardest is waking up to a beautiful spring day – bright sun, birds, the sound of a confused pair of ducks quacking on a still factory roof (strangely) and the immense silence of no traffic on the Boulevard…Spring – life blooming – while we cannot revel fully – we must hold back, stay back, protect ourselves from the invisible killer. It’s like Silent Spring in reverse. Nature gets healthier loudly while man’s/woman’s presence is muted/silenced. I was married at the end of April, born at the beginning of May, launched to Alaska on ferries in spring  for new careers.  A celebratory time of year. Once. Now we must prevent our blooming, stay away from dancing together around the Maypole, change our primal human rituals and bow to nature, bow down low to the virus. Beg for mercy. Ask again, perhaps as never before, for life. The virus does not listen. The virus does not care. The fruit trees burst into bloom like never before. The birdsong grows louder. The coyote and deer venture deeper into the comfort of our villages and cities. We humans, humbled, hope our place remains.