I had no answer, but when I got home that night
I saw the article about medical workers wearing
pictures of themselves smiling to comfort COVID-19
patients—We’re here to take care of you! handwritten
across masking tape, placed upon their scrubs.
How strange a world of hidden faces, goggles,
plastic masks, but the photos a reminder, kindness
underneath. At the hospital someone said,
Not all heroes wear capes, some wear stethoscopes. Outside,
the parks were empty in the tired light
of noon, and through this spring of trauma, every
tulip, every plum tree, fully in bloom.
By Melissa Studdard & Kelli Russell Agodon