I didn’t realize
before the pandemic
how much happiness
I collected from strangers.
All the ordinary moments
like opening a door for someone,
or stopping so they could cross the street,
or standing behind them in line
and making their baby laugh.
With masks,
I felt being in public
was too lonely at first,
so many people
but so little
connection.
But I realized
I just needed to learn
a new language:
their eyes.
How did I not notice before,
how they brighten
and widen
to mean different kinds
of thank you.
Or how the crinkling of skin
at the corners
becomes a bouquet
of a hundred smiles.
And how they get small
like pressed springs,
packed tight with joy.
So, please, wear your mask.
I will too.
We can be distant
without disappearing.
Let’s fill hearts again,
moment by moment,
the way strangers always have,
exchanging small kindnesses
without words.