Shelter in Place, San Francisco, California, July 24, 2020

From one small vantage point in the garden one might be excused for thinking that we live at the edge of a deep forest. The narrow sight lines lead the eye over our fence and diagonally across two yards whose large palms form shadows that seem to go on forever. It’s an illusion, of course. Beyond these small collective gardens is a busy street, and beyond that a hill, and beyond that a freeway, and beyond that skyscrapers, trains, and shipyards, and beyond that the bay, and beyond that the rest of our country, steeped in crisis. You can’t see any of that from here. And for several minutes of the day, as the sun dances through the darkness, I feel safe and well protected. Blessed even. It is enough for now. Perhaps some other day I’ll look beyond the trees to learn for myself it isn’t true.