Tuesday, July 14, 2020

Covid-19 - A Moment In Time

Poetics Tuesday at dVerse, and Brian Miller has
challenged us to create a word picture of
a significant moment.  I've chosen to feature
our moment in  time, more prose than poem.
Submitted to dVerse
July 14, 2020
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Thousands are dying, robbed of the gift of being surrounded by loved ones in their final hours, their loved ones bereft at the loss of those final moments, equally bereft at their inability to have visitation or funeral where their emptiness might be filled with stories of their dear departed.  Isolated in our homes, wearing masks in public, denied of the simplest human touch of hand shake and hug, longing to once again sit amongst peers exchanging life happenings, missing our simple pleasures of dining out with friends, browsing best sellers at the local library, enjoying a current movie, attending church or simply a trip to the grocery store.  Churches and schools closed, store shelves emptied for who knows what reason,  businesses closed, streets deserted, and life as we knew it suspended as if someone pulled the celestial plug and we’re  caught in Pompeiian mid-motion frozen in time.  How will we chronicle this time for future generations?.  How will it read in history books? 

15 comments:

  1. A strange time we are living for sure. I have learned to make my time productive and even take up new hobbies. Learning also what is the essential versus wants, choosing simple but enjoyable activities. Lots of lessons to carry on.

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    1. I do much the same, Grace, and normally my poetic efforts are upbeat or humorous (I hope), but I felt a need to recapture this moment for my descendants, lest they forget how quickly their world can be altered.

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  2. Tough to read and know we are trapped here for an undetermined amount of time.

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  3. We definitely live in interesting times. Between COVID and the racial/political unrest, I wonder what future generations will think of this time.

    You are right in that we have been robbed of the git of physical contact. There is so much in a hug that speaks to our inner most being. It is sad really.

    I hope that this time can remind us of what is truly important.

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    1. The upside of this pandemic is that families have drawn closer, and we have (hopefully) learned to reconsider what is really important in our lives. Let us hope it leaves us a kinder, gentler generation.

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  4. It breaks my heart to witness what we are going through right now. I agree, "How will it read in history books?"

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  5. We never expected to be living through such times, did we, Bev? I can hardly believe it. Things must change soon.

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  6. The way we live today is so different, there are things I really like with a smaller world, but there are many things that I miss. Hopefully we will keep the good and move forward keeping the best.

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  7. Strange days indeed, Bev. I hope that people in the future will read what so many of us have written in tweets, Facebook pages, blogs, stories, poems, compare it with history books and fill in the gaps, to understand it more fully. History books are mostly factual, they can’t convey the emotions of the time. I like the way you describe it as ‘suspended as if someone pulled the celestial plug and we’re caught in Pompeiian mid-motion frozen in time’.

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  8. For those who are dying alone these are terrible times and I don't understand the logic, if someone's dying, they are not in danger of catching the virus.
    As for the rest of it, they seem to be pretty minor inconveniences compared to what millions have to deal with every day. Maybe that just shows how much of a misanthrope I've become.

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  9. And yet it is the very uncertainty of these times that serve to impel us to rise to the challenges and seek out a better existence, to be a better self. ~ Jason

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    1. Agreed. This was the dark side of the pandemic, but much could be written of the ingenuity and creativity engendered, the benefit of enforced time to consider what's really important, the drawing closer of family and the list goes on.

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  10. This certainly is a "long and strange" moment. One day people will read it, and try to imagine what we are experiencing now. "It come to pass", and we are the ones waiting for the other side.

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  11. This life is all too real for us. Stark portrayal of what we are dealing with.

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  12. Oh you've expressed my thoughts on this Age of Covid so well. I may grump.....but I have it so very easy in comparison to so many. It is a frightening time....but nothing could, I think, be more frightening than being put on a ventilator with only health care personnel to help you through the anxiety...to die alone....to not be able to be with a loved one during their last moments. It is truly a heartless disease.

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