Happy Spring!

Love in the time of Covid-19

Someday the boys will

play again

Someday the girls will too

Soft and hard, baskets and bases

pucks and sticks

bats and balls

But I--  

I can never go back

Come of age half a century ago

when

we were...

routinely

Intimately

indiscriminate with exchanges

of bodily fluids.

And now compelled into

Social Distance, for greater good,

So, I fall in love with sliding off

The edge of Earth

Listening to crows and nightingales

watching squirrels and blossoms spring

Into a waking trance

I wander not lost

Before everything came to a halt, we were on my wife’s spring break in NYC attending theater.Things were not exactly normal there, like folks were holding their breath for what might happen. But on the surface all was moving along. We could eat at our favorite spots with our friends, though we could not get everybody in since we ended up cutting the trip short for a variety of reasons. On our ride home we discovered they shut down Broadway which was the start of something really big.

Timing is everything they say.

Just over a year ago, I began a more housebound, monastic existence in an out-of-the-way part of the country. So, the new restrictions on activities such as going to New York City bars, restaurants, or theaters will have little effect on me personally. Since January, I have stepped up my yoga practice at home. Since last March, I have been working on a memoir. Ever since we moved here, I have been growing vegetables in a backyard garden and canning the produce. These are activities in which a retired person may indulge once they no longer punch the work life clock.

This is not boasting. It may occur for folks as rather sad that I withdrew from the rat race without prompting, but of my own accord. “I’m just sitting here watching the wheels go round and round…” John Lennon wrote. I’ve always admired him and his outlook on life.

I feel sorry for those who are struggling with this new reality. It can be a golden opportunity to just stop and smell the roses. Let the air clear and take a long hard look at what is really important. Be present with every moment of Spring like when we were kids. Wake early. Go outside and listen to the silence, to the birds, to the breeze. Remember what it was like to not be so busy all the time. Many are grumbling that this is over reacting, that the threat is not real, that the death rate is inflated.

If what is happening in Europe and Asia are not indicators enough of a serious problem, the free market itself kick started our long delayed response which could have been far less drastic had we made preparations. Over the past two weeks, the Stock Market reacted poorly until it heard and saw what it wanted: reassurance that the threat is taken seriously and that action will result. This actually bolsters my faith in capitalism. It took the Great Stock Market Crash of 2020 to wake some people up.

The death rate of this disease is not the issue. Though one preventable death is one too many, the actions taken now are intended to slow the spread of the virus so that our overburdened healthcare system is not inundated. If this happens, more deaths may occur from unrelated illnesses than illness created or exacerbated by the virus. Our lack of preparedness has left our first responders,our medical workers along with their families at very high risk.

 The conspiracy theorists are having a field day. A privilege I hope they enjoy for many millennia to come. That means we will ultimately be successful in combating both ignorance and fear by stopping the rampant spread of a highly contagious disease. We are all in this together. I am praying for us to stay safe and healthy.