An ordinary nightmare for the young,
the one that more experience than not,
is dreaming we’re at school one day among
our peers, and realizing that we forgot
to put on underwear. Anxiety
invades us: how to handle vacancy
beneath our clothes, perhaps to hide the lack.
That little recollection takes me back.

Two nights ago I had a COVID dream.
I made it halfway through a store before
I sensed some glances I could not ignore,
and that’s when I inhaled without a screen.
I wasn’t masked! Embarrassed to the core,
I shame-walked like a leper to the door.

(Pushkin Sonnet)