It's a long time since I have made it here to write! I apologize to those who keep exploring the pages and I intend to share some thoughts here weekly or bi-weekly from now on. The pandemic/quarantine is changing everyone's
life and giving us opportunity to explore what is important for everyone. Reflection helps...and leads, and widens our small personal worlds. Especially considering "what is my heart doing during this time?" Not my mind or thoughts, but my Heart Presence in
the unfolding moments of the daily changing circumstances.
To this end, I offer you the following poem by a fifteen-year-old Irish girl, granddaughter of my friend and writing colleague Margarita in Dublin. Holly
inspires us all by her deep perceptions and how she is expressing them here:
PACKING FOR LOCKDOWN
Holly Lusted.
If I could have packed for this,
Prepared myself,
I would have packed everything I would miss
I would have packed the beach
and the city
And the laughter of children in a playground
Where everything is slippery with
melted ice-cream
and sunscreen
rubbed on red, prickly skin
By the turquoise swimming pool in a hotel.
If I could have packed for this
Prepared
myself,
I would have packed the shopping centre
and the park
and the town café.
I would have packed a family dinner
With Mum’s chicken and Gran’s cakes
And Dad asking
“How was the journey up?”
I would have packed a school tour
To a history museum only I seem to care about
and the queues
at IKEA
and the screams and splashes
Of a great gang of girls
getting caught in a rain shower,
and a football match.
I would have packed handshakes,
Hugs, and a kiss on the cheek.
New music and petting a dog.
I would pack everything I would miss.
I would pack until
my suit case over flowed,
Until I could press my ear
To my luggage and hear
Life as it we know it fly by.
I would carry my suitcase for
years
Without opening it once,
Until I had children of my own
To give my suitcase to,
so they could know
Happiness, sadness,
freedom and rage.
The sun and the moon
And the squawk of gulls by the sea,
The cinemas, the playgrounds and all of the
shops
So they don’t go without it.
I would give them a suitcase of their own and say;
“Fill it up”
So my grandchildren would know it too.
20th June 2020.