Not present

I feel like a ghost.

When you’re sick, everyone says they don’t blame you, but it cannot relieve the heavy burden - the viral load - that inescapably weighs upon you - within you.

I can be present, but I can’t get too close, I can’t hold my baby or kiss my wife, I daren’t even open my mouth to speak for risk of sharing more than words. So I am mute, out-of-reach, untouchable, unable to support my family, unwilling to cheer up or smile, as requested, for I am a ghost. I am good only for haunting.