Wednesday, February 3, 2021

W. H. AUDEN SAID IT WELL

Between the COVID19 pandemic and my fractures this has been a lonely time.  I stay at home and hope for chatty phone calls from friends and family.  Anything for connection! 

I am in mind of lines from a poem by the contemporary British poet W. H. Auden -- in a much longer poem, Night Mail.  

Now, more than ever, I appreciate bikur cholim, visitation of the sick, discussed in another post.  

During COVID19 it is better that this not be in person -- but how welcome are friendly e-mails, chatty phone calls -- anything to remind me that I have not totally disappeared!

Here is the entire poem:  

https://allpoetry.com/Night-Mail

These lines from this poem speak clearly to me:

Asleep in working Glasgow, asleep in well-set Edinburgh,
Asleep in granite Aberdeen,
They continue their dreams,
But shall wake soon and hope for letters,
And none will hear the postman's knock
Without a quickening of the heart,
For who can bear to feel himself forgotten?

                                                       ###

Note: This post also appears at: https://joanscovid19blog.blogspot.com