I am storing all this sweetness for the end,
The blackbird song, the smell of garlic mown,
And I will watch the butterfly-flecked grass
At dusk and in the gold of midday sun.
So much will ripen, fruit fall from the bough
Before we dare to speak, to touch, to hold,
Because the leaves may all have turned to red,
I am storing all this sweetness for the end.
Vibrant, joyful, bud-unfurling spring
Has come, while fear stalks through the cautious day,
And haunts the dreams of silent, confined night
With blackbird song, the smell of garlic mown.
The house is still, the nestlings far away,
Hands flutter in the same gestes every day,
You watch the screen for news with furrowed brow,
And I will watch the butterfly-flecked grass.
Nests are built, the meadow blooms apace,
We cannot stop the sun, hold back the tide,
But hope to be here when this race is run,
At dusk and in the gold of midday sun.
Jane Dougherty Writes 
Utterly beautiful. Your poetry makes my spirit rise
Thank you! You must enjoy the lyrical sound of words in rhyme and song as much as I do.
I do Jane, but I am a great Nature lover too, and although I can see it no longer just the imagining fills me with joy.
If you have the memories you can make them sing 🙂
You are lucky to have the natural world as companion in your isolation. It’s a good one. (K)
Thanks. I know. As a couple interviewed in the middle of the Correze (very thinly populated, totally rural or empty) said, this is one of the few times in history anyone would envy them. The downside is that if you get sick and you’re vulnerable the lack of a doctor or a pharmacy for miles and no hospital could mean curtains.
I’m not sure that right now you could get any better care here. My daughter had a fever and sore throat and it was 2 days before she could reach anyone to talk to. Then they just told her to take Tylenol, rest, and drink plenty of fluids.
It’s not that bad here. You can get hold of a doctor by telephone here easily enough. For ordinary problems in the more rural areas there just aren’t any physical doctors, but if there’s an emergency, you can get someone out pretty quickly. The ambulance service and the fire brigade will get through. You just have to sit tight and hope it doesn’t come to that.
We are all hoping that.
How is your daughter now? I’m assuming she’s not getting worse, but…
She is doing better. I’m not sure who they are testing, but I suspect you have to be in serious trouble. It could be coronavirus but we’ll never know.
I hope in a way that it is, if she’s doing better. It will mean she’s immune and you won’t have to worry about her catching it. Son thought he might have had it but feels better now. A close friend of his is bad though. The advice is treat it like a common flu unless the symptoms don’t go away after a few days and you have difficulty breathing. Then it’s emergency.
Yes, a lot of her friends seem to be having mild symptoms. No one was being careful until 2 weeks ago, so I’m sure it’s everywhere. Which, as you say, is good in it’s own way.
There’s a big polemic going on here about the chloriquine drug, to administer or not. Healthy people are demanding it before anyone knows if it has any effect at all. The Chinese didn’t think it did.
I heard 9n the news this morning about a couple who tried to self medicate with some drug they heard about and ended up killing themselves instead.
Lots of people have died from using chloriquine. They’re going to administer it to the really bad (no hope) cases as better than nothing.