Photo by Ginming Pan
Panning for Gold during the Pandemic
Scoop up a handful of pebbles, where the mountain stream bends,
swirl them in water, shake the pan, swish the pebbles and wash the sand;
reach the black dirt at the bottom, be patient, swirl and shake some more,
finally, swish the waters gently over the remainder, and gold will stick to the bottom of the pan;
like memories stashed away in the attic of the pandemic, each feisty and full of heartache,
craggy, nuggety, sparkly, shiny, sassy, staid, grizzly and fresh;
scoop them up and traverse into ether, pan the galaxies, and swish the planets,
wash the comets, shake the cosmos, swirl them all with meandering beads of moonbeams;
and in a blink that obliterates a billion years, scatter into a million starlit pieces,
with the hope that we too will someday find, another blessed earth to spend the rest of our eternal lives.
The Author
Swarnal Borthakur is a poet, writer, painter, runner, birder, inventor, metallurgical engineer. He resides in Boise, Idaho with his husband Matthew and two cats Lady Blueberry and Lord Phineas.
Photo by Matt Seymour