Because there is healing in poetry and the arts, I felt compelled to share this poem written recently by Richard Hendrick in Ireland about the state of affairs right now amidst COVID-19. It fills me with a sense of optimism and reassurance that everything is just fine and will continue to be just fine – even if nothing is normal right now we’re a little uncomfortable with all the changes – if we just slow down to Love.

 

Lockdown

 

 Yes there is fear.

 Yes there is isolation.

 Yes there is panic buying.

 Yes there is sickness.

 Yes there is even death.

 But,

 They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise

 You can hear the birds again.

 They say that after just a few weeks of quiet

 The sky is no longer thick with fumes

 But blue and grey and clear.

 They say that in the streets of Assisi

 People are singing to each other

 across the empty squares,

 keeping their windows open

 so that those who are alone

 may hear the sounds of family around them.

 They say that a hotel in the West of Ireland

 Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.

 Today a young woman I know

 is busy spreading fliers with her number

 through the neighbourhood

 So that the elders may have someone to call on.

 Today Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and Temples

 are preparing to welcome

 and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary

 All over the world people are slowing down and reflecting

 All over the world people are looking at their neighbours in a new way

 All over the world people are waking up to a new reality

 To how big we really are.

 To how little control we really have.

 To what really matters.

 To Love.

 So we pray and we remember that

 Yes there is fear.

 But there does not have to be hate.

 Yes there is isolation.

 But there does not have to be loneliness.

 Yes there is panic buying.

 But there does not have to be meanness.

 Yes there is sickness.

 But there does not have to be disease of the soul

 Yes there is even death.

 But there can always be a rebirth of love.

 Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.

 Today, breathe.

 Listen, behind the factory noises of your panic

 The birds are singing again

 The sky is clearing,

 Spring is coming,

 And we are always encompassed by Love.

 Open the windows of your soul

 And though you may not be able

 to touch across the empty square,

 Sing.

 

 -from Richard Hendrick (Brother Richard) in Ireland

 March 13th 2020