ANOTHER VIEWPOINT

The following was sent to me by Adele Looney (97years young).
She is wife of founder of ALTERNATIVE TO VIOLENCE COURSE,
John Looney.

PANDEMIC

What if you thought of it as 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 with 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 this world your love--
for better or for worse, in sickness and in health,
so long as we shall live.

​by poet, LYNN UNGAR (March 11,2020)