The Binding

by Bridget Collins

Here the clock in the hall dredged up seconds like stones and dropped them again into the pool of the day, letting each ripple widen before the next one fell.

I wondered how it would feel to bring it down on the back of my other hand. Or his.

the monotonous, meditative routine of work and food and sleep—I lost track of time. The days rolled round like wheels, full of the same chores and the same hours

Sounds like 2020 quarantine

To honor it, to make it beautiful, even though no one will ever see it. To guard it with your own life