We will step outside and hold hands
with people we do not live with, leaning
against fitness corner monkey bars.
We will meet our friends again,
wrap our arms around them
and realise we have forgotten
how hugs are supposed to end.
We will remove our masks and kiss
in the middle of zebra crossings.
Drivers will honk their horns
not out of rage but joy.
We will sit in crowded cinemas
watching a movie picked at random
for the sheer pleasure of hearing strangers
crunching buttered popcorn all around us.
When all this is over, maybe we will
say good morning to our neighbours,
ask if they slept well. First, out of fear,
then because we genuinely like them.
When all this is over, we will remove
our masks, taste the air for the first
time in months, and see ourselves,
and see this city for what we really are.
When all this is over, may we never
walk past another new building
without wondering about how
the people who put it together
are doing.
May we finally stop mistaking
compassion for compromise
inequality for inevitable
but never stop questioning.
When all this is over,
I hope we remember
the ways that we cared,
everything we redistributed,
everything that we wouldn't
settle for, what we demanded,
everything that we shared,
and realise that all this
was just a beginning.
When all this is over,
we will step outside and hold hands
with people we do not live with.
- Stephanie Chan, 32, is the author of poetry collection Roadkill For Beginners (2019) and has spent the circuit breaker growing vegetables while running poetry night Spoke & Bird and a livestreamed talk show, The Siao Char Bors Chat Show online.
- To read the other works in this series online, go to str.sg/30Days. For more local digital arts offerings, go to a-list.sg to appreciate #SGCulture Anywhere
