It’s Easter morning in a pandemic and the morning is very dark. Heavy clouds layer the sky. A cold wind blows. This is right. The earth still refuses to abide by human calendars. The earth is not happy and bright simply because it is Easter morning. The earth does not serve us. It is dark to the point that I light a candle. So funny how a candle helps make the world right again; I settle into my prayer chair, by my window, by my plant. So funny how the heart and body need to find small tethers to the Old World, and how these small tethers keep me walking upright upon the earth. They are not heavy enough to anchor me; instead, they straighten me, like a balloon in the Macy’s Day Parade. A tether, a tether, a tether, a tether: They are small yet valuable. They help me from going askance.

© Meisaan Chan