Essential giant
wants to keep us safe.
Site leaders send out the texts,
there’s been an additional confirmed case of the disease.
The affected individual was last on site
__/__/____.

Among conveyor belts and pallet jacks,
those of us still here
look around for missing faces.
Who is suddenly gone?
There’s always been a transience to the labor
but now every disappearance could be…
it.

Arrows on the floor
and walkways drawn in tape
guide us into distance as best they can,
people go the long way around
just to get out of the way,
breaking minds visible in that second, never-asked question
of what’s the best way to get around you?
Distance shortens the gap between mind and worry.

This is the deadliest, most power
natural force we’ve encountered in our lives,
crippling our whole world
and I may be standing
where it was breathing
a week ago.

Any day
I can carry it
home
with me,
a truth
we all feel.

And all we can do is take our precautions:
wash our hands and wear a mask,
shower when we get home,
maybe pray
or whatever your equivalent to prayer may be.
There’s no telling
when this crucible will end
but it will, someday.
Until then,
please,
be safe my friends.