Hold Your Breath

<h1>March 18 2020</h1><h2>Corona and Cancer</h2><p><em>How much time do I have?</em> The man asks.</p><p>With words muffled behind my double mask</p><p>I mumble something. He accepts the answer</p><p>the non-answer. </p><p>Sometimes you ask just to hear the question </p><p>and not the response.</p><p>Is death disguised in the cancer cells inside him? </p><p>Or is it floating in the air around us?</p><p>I give him chemotherapy to chase away the first.</p><p>I wear a mask to trap out the second. </p><p>Equal fight?</p><p>Unknown. </p><p>The answer hides behind the mask of uncertainty.</p><p>What I had mumbled was:</p><p><em>How much time does life on Earth have?</em></p><p>I am glad he didn't hear it.</p><p>He is glad too.</p><p><br></p><p>Talking to people behind masks is tricky.</p><p>They can only see your eyes</p><p>and the frown in them can't hide behind a smile.</p><p>Truth. The truth is more naked behind a mask. </p><p><br></p><p>I feel each breath I take. How precious life is behind a mask!</p><p>Unmasked you're never aware of breathing.</p><p>I hear my breath behind a mask. </p><p>How loud life is behind a mask!</p><p><br></p><p>Masks don't cover your vision. Only your gasp. </p><p>Google statistics.</p><p>Roll roll numbers roll. County's count. State's count. Nation's count. World's count. </p><p>In the beginning I could add and subtract</p><p>yesterday's cases from today's. How many more?</p><p>Now I can't. With six digits you lose track.</p><p><br></p><p><em>No. You won't lose your job</em></p><p>I answer my single-mother secretary.</p><p>Did she smile? Can I see her mouth behind her mask?</p><p>Did she see the truth in my eyes?</p><p><br></p><p>Thank God for masks. </p><p>No one questions the truth in the eyes </p><p>if it doesn't come out of the mouth.</p><p><br></p><p>How many masks do I have? </p><p>I have to make some from scratch this weekend.</p>