May your home become a hermitage
of quiet contemplation
As though you were out in the desert
seeking the light in solitude
Or may it become a hothouse
of tomatoes and ideas
Unaccustomed to such attention
May your four walls enclose you
With safety and then vanish
As you look out onto the trees
Filled with birds that sing
And flaunt their freedom
May you cherish your souvenirs
Of travel to exotic places
And dream of returning
May you savor the abundance
Of pantries filled with soups
And dried pasta awaiting sauces
May you remember the words
To the songs you danced to
and find your feet dancing again
May you remember your mom
or maybe your dad confined
to a bed or wheelchair
who you thought were
bounded like Hamlet
in a nutshell but counted
themselves kings and queens
of infinite space
May you say this over and over:
home is where the heart is and
the earth is still our home
Read More: Meet the Author behind the “Anonymous” I Want to Age Like Sea Glass Poem
A Time for Poetry
Poetry may be the best form for capturing the surge of complex emotions as we navigate through these unprecedented times. (How many times in the past few weeks have you heard that word “unprecedented”?) May we suggest a few other poems that express the tenor of our times.
The first two were written by NextTribe-aged women specifically about our current crisis, offering real-time perspectives that are so mature and deep, you might think they’d fermented for years.
March the Ninth Twenty Twenty by the Italian writer Mariangela Gualtieri.
Pandemic by Lynn Ungar, from San Franciso.
And why not pull out a classic in this time of need, one that seems tailor-made for what we’re enduring now:
Keeping Quiet by the great Chilean poet Pablo Neruda.
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