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for the next little while or forever

3/16/2020

6 Comments

 
It seems we are being challenged to change direction with just a moments notice. And then change again. No one can predict what will be asked of us in the hours and days and weeks to come. Are we ready? How can we prepare? What and who can we trust? Who shall guide us?

I like these words of the poet, Lynn Ungar, as shared Parker Palmer, author, speaker and Quaker elder.

Pandemic

What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath -
the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
 different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life. 
Center down. 

And when your body has become still
reach out your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)

Know that our lives are in one another's hands.
(Surely that has become clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.

Promise the world your love -
for better or for worse,
in sickness or in health,
so long as we all shall live.

6 Comments
Susan A Hudgens link
3/16/2020 05:25:53 pm

This is beautiful Phyllis - I've been thinking some of these same things, admittedly not always with the most gracious level of acceptance as that expressed here. Candy also sent a message with a piece by Kristin Flyntz titled, A Letter to Humans from CoVid 19, which spoke to the idea of stopping and listening rather than engaging in the constant busyness and packed schedules we've been used to living before The Virus hit our shores. I love this piece by Parker Palmer as well since I think rather than embracing the idea that we are all connected, we've been living in a time when we are increasingly fractured and separated by ideologies. History has shown that this has never proven successful for any of those involved, and so I hope this time around, more of us, if not all of us, embrace the light and acknowledge how important we are to each other.

Reply
candy
3/16/2020 09:06:19 pm

Sue, your post is beautifully said and Phyllis, thank you for this peace.
Love you both, candy

Reply
phyllis link
3/19/2020 04:01:38 pm

Thank you, Candy, for sharing your peace, too. Love, phyllis

phyllis link
3/19/2020 03:59:22 pm

Thank you, Sue, for sharing such beautiful thoughts. Love, phyllis

Reply
Chuck
3/20/2020 10:44:50 am

Really great, really helpful!

Reply
Phyllis Boernke link
3/20/2020 02:20:47 pm

Thanks, Chuck. Might need a few
chuck-a-nuts to get through this all. Ready?

Reply



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    poet, photographer, weaver of stories, I have lived a life of wonder and serendipity and happily share my gleanings with you 

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