Mask

For a moment,

in the front row

of class, she pulled

one side away.

To raise her water

bottle to her lips.

First time in months

I’d seen her face.

Older, skin starved

by filtered air. A

thin muffled voice

without expression.

Exuberance crushed

under daily confinement.

The validity of shared

smiling, denied.

Expertly, she re-hung

the elastic on her

flaking ear. Anonymous

again, like the others.

Ronnie Smith©️December 2020