MY WORLD
  
 I miss my world
  
 I miss rolling down my window to feel
 the brisk 7:00am air
 as the sun comes up over the mountains
 on my drive to Golden
  
 the bite of Santiago’s spicy breakfast burritos
 brought as a Friday surprise by a kind co-worker
  
 the sound of my own voice
 complaining about the bottleneck
 that is Colorado Boulevard
  
 feeling sanctimonious as I wait every weekend
 in the long line for Sunday brunch
 at The Universal
  
 planning trips to Amsterdam, Budapest and 
 the plains of Mongolia
 that I’m never going to take
  
 whining that I can’t find a parking space
 within 15 feet of the Safeway entrance
  
 cursing at college students as they zip by on skateboards 
 almost knocking me down
 on their way to changing the world
  
 When we’re us again
 if that ever happens
 and even if we end up being something new
  
 I hope I hope I hope I am someone
 who knows the value of eyes that see
 who learns before she criticizes
 who remembers to listen instead of just
 impatiently waiting to speak
 who passes money to panhandlers
 instead of cheap judgment
 who never passes a hospital again
 without whispering a prayer for everyone inside
  
 and most of all
 as Eliot hoped
 who arrives back where she started
 and knows the place for the first time
  

 by Cynthia Bowling
 March 27, 2020