Footsteps

The world may seem quieter these days, you would wonder if it’s pausing for a hug, if it’s embracing you with a kind of stillness you had never discovered, if recent raindrops had showered the earth with an extra lullaby, and you would wonder if the pavements leading to the school hallway, the roundabouts you‘d usually circle to get your toddler to nap, and the wide open fields that welcomed your first cartwheels are doing okay and if they remember the sound of your footsteps, except that they don’t even need to try.

The world may seem quieter these days, but only as a way for you to listen. The footsteps of your children may form an orchestra of their own as they hurry down the stairs at home and up again in between fits of laughter. And even those giggles seem to come in rhythms you wouldn’t have noticed in between your usual daily rush. And then there are the skipping heartbeats at night as your fingers meet your child’s before bedtime - these heartbeats seem a little louder now.

And the pavements, the roundabouts, the wide open fields; they could hear too.