The Last Sunrise

poetry by grace copps

the day before the last day of school
before we switched to online school
i had to get to school early to go over a paper with a teacher at 7:30 am
it was still dark out when i got on the bus
but by the time i got off
the sky was the most beautiful swirl of orange and purple
i remember thinking that maybe i should try to get to school early more often
so that i could have more mornings like this
because i thought for sure
that there would be more morning bus rides
more walks to school at sunrise
i stopped to take a picture
because how could i not want to remember such a beautiful sight?
now i look at that picture
and i mourn my life before

as soon as the pandemic ends
early in the morning
i will run to the bus
and ride into the sunrise
once more