New York City

The city that never sleeps they used to say

Now you can run in the street and not even get beeped by a car

It used to be noisy in the city now the hustle and bustle is gone

Everything is closed

Time square is empty

Parking garages are vacant

Taxis are making less money than they ever were before

The corona virus took the city to a whole new view

The view used to be crowded and people brushing up against each other shoulder to shoulder

now we have to stand six feet apart.

With a mask on

Covering half your face

Its hard to see a persons expression that way

Only real one you can see is a smile because your eyes get that wrinkle on the side.

Or the other obvious one is sadness

When tears are coming down your face your mask isn’t hiding anything.

That’s how New York was before the corona virus hit

No mask

No filter

People didn’t say excuse me they just pushed through

No one smiled at you for no reason

That would be weird

But new Yorkers are like that

We have our own way of ignoring people we don’t know

Its a stereo type but sadly its true

Or at least we were like that

Now the city is empty

The wind goes by and it hits you hard because your the only one there

You can hear the silence in the air

Everyone is gone

The subways are filled with more homeless people than ever before

Starbucks on every corner are closed instead of having lines and mobile orders picked up

I miss my city

I miss walking to central park after work to catch the bus

It would be the longest walk after an exhausting day at work but it would the best one

No matter the weather

When it rained I had my umbrella and the rain made New York shine more because it showed this city can get through any storm big or small.

The buildings always stand so high

When I looked up in the sky my neck would go so far back it hurt but in a good way

It showed the world is endless

That there are so many possibilities and dreams in a city like this

A city like New York

Where the buildings one day will be full of productive meetings again

People pitching ideas

Interns getting coffee orders from Starbucks

The line will be busting out the door

Someone will bump into you at the mobile pick up line without a mask on

Soon we will be back to a world where we don’t have to wear a mask

Where we don’t have to stand six feet apart

But we can’t go back to the normal we had before the 2020 pandemic because then we will end up right back where we are now

Standing six feet apart from each other and wearing a mask

We have to go into back into the world

Into the world outside our doors

With some caution

We have to take care of this world no matter what state you live in because its the only one we got

The place where you live is your home even if its not your home for your entire life its your home for now

Its where you wake up and where you fall asleep

So don’t you want it to be a healthy and cleaner home?

I know I do

I want to go back to New York City

Where I can’t even hear myself think sometimes and that is ok

Where I can go on the express bus and not worry when someone sits next to me

I can just go back into in my world with my head phones

I can fall sleep on the bus in the morning and on the way home from work

But not miss a beat

Because the city I used to know was always happening

Always going

Now its stopped

But I know it will be going again

I know the trains will run with more city workers than homeless people

I know I will say my Starbucks order to the person behind the counter wearing the green apron

I know I will go back to Bloomingdales and say “hey” to my co workers because its New York

Its America

Its the world

I know the world can get though this

I know we can all win this if we stand together and fight

I know we can stay home and make the curve go down so that one day we can meet up and say hi without fabric hiding my smile

Because Its who we are

We are fighters

All humans have survival instincts to make it through

And we built our homes to make them what they are now

I know one day New York City will the city that never sleeps again

But for now I guess it needed a break

But I know it will and we will wake up from this bad dream and learn something and bring into the new world.

So the world can grow from this

So we can grow from this

So we can learn and implement new things into the world so it can become a better place

So the kids can go back to school

The teachers can back to work

The waitress can back to serving tables

The Starbucks employees can go back to making expressos and coffee

I can go back to New York City where I belong.