Have compassion for the unhappy

Ring a ring roses

A pocket full of posies

Atishoo Atishoo

We all fall down.

 

Fear of your friend

your neighbour

your fellow worker.

Fear the stranger.

 

Stretch out a hand but

don’t clasp. Seize what’s left

on the floor

against the door.

 

The kiss. The embrace.

We have feelings but can’t touch.

Shields shielding the shielded.

Hemmed in. Trapped.

 

Our lips move. Our eyes see.

We hear. But we are not there.

We’re global. We’re local.

We could be in our living room.

 

Lift up your eyes.

Listen to The Lark Ascending*.

 

 

*The Decameron – Giovanni Boccaccio

*Vaughan Williams

 

 

By Joy Johnson