Love in a Time of Pandemic

Lovers blow kisses

across

the expanse

of deserted streets,

compose love-letters

with sanitized fingers,

press

hands

against the skin

of lighted screens.

To escape

from the tyranny

of the invisible,

they dream

of living flesh,

like shipwrecked sailors

dream

of land.

In echoing rooms

they cry out,

demanding

to know

when

they can once more

frolic

in maskless joy.

In the answering silence,

they attend

to household chores,

perfecting

the exhaustion

that eventually

leads

to sleep.