Between the COVID19 pandemic and my fractures this has been a lonely time. I stay at home and hope for chatty phone calls from friends and family. Anything for connection!
I am in mind of lines from a poem by the contemporary British poet W. H. Auden -- in a much longer poem, Night Mail.
Now, more than ever, I appreciate bikur cholim, visitation of the sick, discussed in another post.
During COVID19 it is better that this not be in person -- but how welcome are friendly e-mails, chatty phone calls -- anything to remind me that I have not totally disappeared!
Here is the entire poem:
https://allpoetry.com/Night-Mail
And these lines speak clearly to me:
Asleep in working Glasgow, asleep in well-set Edinburgh,
Asleep in granite Aberdeen,
They continue their dreams,
But shall wake soon and hope for letters,
And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart,
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?
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(Note: This post also appears at: www.JoansBackboneDisaster.com)
