I’ve found myself in contemplation

There’s something so inhumane

About a piece of cloth

Shielding the many delights

Of everyday life

I can’t smile at the cashier anymore

Or at the old woman down the street

I can’t shake this feeling

Of a deepened defeat

But when I find myself searching

For newfound ways to connect with strangers

My ignorance is bliss

I realize something deeper

Could come of all of this

We now smile with our eyes

And if our eyes really are

The windows to our soul

Then maybe this new normal

Will finally unite us

Whole