This Pandemic is Quicksand

As I walk day-by-day

in the shifting sands of these times

I seek my footing.

Where is the bottom?

The uneven surface challenges my core

as I traverse step by step.

Do this. No, now do this.

And yet again it changes.

I’m not accustomed to maneuvering

on this uneven surface.

Where is my known firm ground?

Where will my next footfall land?

How do I proceed?

Where is the path?

Relax.

I hear my inner voice

tell me to relax.

I am trying, working too hard

to find firm ground in Quicksand.

Remember how to survive Quicksand:

If you struggle, you sink.

The answer is to float.

Can I let my body rise out of the struggle

to float on the surface of this magical fluid?

I remember as a child in Florida,

walking with my family and encountering

a bubbling pot of Quicksand.

It was just a bit, maybe 4 feet across.

My sister and I were fascinated by this

magical liquid:

Not quite water;

Not quite sand.

Adventurous, we stepped in.

One at a time, holding each

other’s hand.

I stepped, and magically I sank,

but not too far until I found the

firm bottom.

I remember the Quicksand moved

and pulled at my legs - now, then not,

then again.

A feeling like no other.

And here we are, in a time like no other.

In this time of Quicksand.

Can I step in, holding your hand?

Can I stop struggling

and float on these shifting sands?

Can I see the magic in this Quicksand?

Not quite water.

Not quite sand.

There is a bottom and it is firm ground.

Don’t struggle, my friends.

Float.

We just need to float.

Andrea Coates Vinson
4/26/2020