Spring break this year we visited New York City, had plays lined up every night of the week. Suddenly, mid-week, theatres closed. Museums too. We booked a flight out a day earlier than planned, wandered through the city for the remaining day or two. The night we came home, my husband Ted was sick. For three weeks, he ached, slept, had no appetite. Yes, he was positive for COVID19, a test which took twelve days to confirm. I too got sick, but not badly. You would think, all this time on your hands! Stories to read! Movies to watch! Zoom-visits to pursue. Yet my attention span was shorter than a gnat’s. I busied myself with the most inconsequential tasks – resorting shelves, taking winter clothes from one closet to the one in the next room. Arranging pencils in holders, pens upright in glasses. One day, I wrote this poem. It made me feel better.
THE PLAGUE
It doesn’t understand
This great construct
We’ve elaborately
Built, greater than any
Structure, a construct
That stretches to the
Beginning of our human
Time, an idea that has
Sustained us, fed us,
Clothed us, housed us,
That has built fortresses of
Separate silos out of our
Human flesh and here’s
This Thing, this
Arrogant Virus that
Stains our air, sickens us,
Kills us
Speaks to us like this:
Understand—please
Understand—you are
Connected to each other,
You are interdependent
Your breath is my breathe
Your air is my air
Your hurt is my hurt.
To make us see it,
This Thing does this—
It sends us to our rooms,
Into Solitary Confinement
Asks us to reflect how
Connected we are
Asks us to protect the
Vulnerable
Asks us to breathe carefully
Asks us to understand that our
Survival depends upon each other
So that one day, chastened, as we
Move into open spaces to be
With one another, to
Hold one another, to
Care for one another
To give up the illusion of our
Separateness, finally, we might
Learn to love our frail and limited
Selves inserted into the
Great beauty of our humanity.
Photo at the top of empty Times Square can be found here.
Photo below is Nancy and Ted at Hudson Yards, March 14, 2020.
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