I am sorry you had to wear a mask.

I know it’s an inconvenience.

It makes breathing feel stuffier. It muffles voices. It hurts your nose, and your ears.

I know it feels like losing freedom.

I know it’s scary.

I am sorry you have to wear a mask. 1/

I am sorry you had to stay at home.

I know it was costly. It cost jobs. It cost money. It cost more.

I am sorry you couldn’t see the lives you saved by staying home. You did well.

I am sorry you can’t see the lives you risk today.

I am sorry you have to stay at home. 2/

I am sorry you had to stand six feet apart.

Just like the nurse was sorry, to tell the wife she couldn’t be in her husband’s room.

I am sorry for her sobbing pleas, her cries. I am sorry for how they echo in the nurse’s mind.

I am sorry you have to stand six feet apart. 3/

I am sorry you had to wear a mask.

Just like I was sorry when the patient died.

His family weeping on the screen of a phone, that the nurse held in front of his unseeing eyes.

We fought so hard.

I am sorry we couldn’t save him.

And I am sorry you have to wear a mask.