The Knight of the New Day

Illustration by: Paula Tongol

The Knight of the New Day

By: Julian Bass

The world is quivering from fear, locked in a battle with the smallest, genocidal foe. But it is no evil, nor is it that different from you and me; finding our ways in life, blazing paths that lead to growth and success.

We cannot ignore the chaos when it is everywhere. Every touch, and every spoken word could be a means to an end.

Unless, we’re talking heroes like you.

Despite the mask, we hear your smile from a distance. Your mindful space speaks volumes over touch, and the world will reap its rewards.

Because you are a hero, and the solution to the threat.

There are those that see only what they want, refusing to bend to change. The truth can be elusive when one is blinded by denial; chinks in the armor that can save millions.

But you are not blind, nor do you deny the truth, because you are the hero when things are bleak.

There is a great irony in quarantine; this “unified isolation” that brings us together by keeping us apart. Emotion is a double-edged sword, piling up in the melting pot within these same, four walls. Loneliness and dampened spirits may only scratch the surface.

But you are the hero, boosting spirits as a driver of change; a beacon for tomorrow.

You donned the white coat and blue gloves, and you shone like a warrior. It was never easy when waves of fatigue and grief bashed you in those rooms. Silence was rarely your friend, because their silence was deafening. Their final breaths drawn wilted your soul.

But that never stopped you, because many more saw the rising sun under your hand. You all fought so valiantly, and your faith pulled them from the end.

This made it all the more difficult when the silence turned your way, and you were pulled from your dear friends and family all too soon. Your story is legend; always will be, and those who live on will recall that masked smile that shone to them like the light of the new morning.

You will be immortalized in time as the gallant knight that marched along the front lines, devoted compassion over fear, a most noble sacrifice.

And you, with many other heroes, will shine the path to the new day.