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lyrics

We stopped saying hello.
We infected with caprice,
infected ones we love with doubt,

those we dislike with conviction;
with memories of the gone,
which is an exacting affliction,

afflicted as we are with the same disease;
with misunderstanding;
with truth blasted out like a sneeze;

with borders we could now see;
with suspicion
and blame we no longer kept to ourselves.

The virus was gone. In those early days
we replaced it with energy and humor,
then with our sense of what is righteous,

trying to infect others.
A triumph for our country, the news trumpeted,
while we questioned if we deserved it.

We leaned away from bodies, stopped
holding doors.
We dragged our feet on office carpets,

burdened by familiar debts.
We looked mockingly on those still masked,
forgetting the ways we are infectious.

We walked the streets like sorrowful ghosts
and with two fingers rubbed our chests.
What is it that was missing?

credits

from Here to Stay, released May 22, 2020

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Anthony Tao, Liane Halton Beijing, China

LIANE HALTON graduated from Rhodes University in South Africa in classical guitar performance and composition. ANTHONY TAO is an editor and writer whose poetry has appeared in publications such as Prairie Schooner, Borderlands, The Cortland Review, Kartika Review, Frontier, Asian Cha, etc. ... more

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