Lockdown, A Poem on St. Patrick’s Day

St. Patrick’s Day 2020 won’t be remembered for the parades, the green beer, or revelry. It will be remembered as the year we celebrated at home in self isolation. I will remember it as my 23rd anniversary on this island. I arrived on March 17th, and it marked the beginning of my new life. I often wonder what my life would have been like if I hadn’t taken the ferry that brought me here from England, but it’s futile thinking about the twists and turns of one’s life, the directions we didn’t take. I like to think we end up just where we belong.

Words of comfort slipped into my awareness today. Without searching or asking for them, they found me anyway. In case you haven’t read this prayer or poem (a matter of perspective), I’d like to share it with you.

I took this photo near Gougane Barra church, Co. Cork

Lockdown

Yes there is fear.

Yes there is isolation.

Yes there is panic buying.

Yes there is sickness

Yes there is even death.

But,

They say that in Wuhan after so many years of noise

You can hear the birds again.

They say that after just a few weeks of quiet

The sky is no longer thick with fumes

But blue and grey and clear.

They say that in the streets of Assisi

People are singing to each other across the empty squares,

keeping their windows open

so that those who are alone may hear the sounds of family

around them.

They say that a hotel in the west of Ireland

Is offering free meals and delivery to the housebound.

Today a young woman I know is busy spreading fliers with her number through the neighborhood

So that elders may have someone to call on.

Today churches, synagogues, mosques, and temples

are preparing to welcome and shelter the homeless, the sick, the weary

All over the world people are

slowing down and reflecting

All over the world people are

looking at their neighbours in a new way

All over the world people are

waking up to a new reality

to how big we really are.

To how little control we really have.

To what really matters.

To Love.

So we pray and we remember that

Yes there is fear.

But there does not have to be hate.

Yes there is isolation.

But there does not have to be loneliness.

Yes there is panic buying.

But there does not have to be meanness.

Yes there is sickness.

But there does not have to be disease of the soul.

Yes there is even death.

But there can always be a rebirth of love.

Wake to the choices you make as to how to live now.

Today, breathe.

Listen, behind the factory noise of your panic

The birds are singing again

The sky is clearing,

Spring is coming,

And we are always encompassed by Love.

Open the windows of your soul

And though you may not be able

to touch across the empty square,

Sing.

By Brother Richard, Capuchin Franciscan Priest-Friar living in Ireland

For more inspiration, follow Brother Richard, a Christian Meditation / Mindfulness teacher to young people, here.

It is remarkable that during this time of turmoil, the earth is healing. There has already been a sizable reduction of pollution during the lockdown. In Venice the water is clear, fish are visible, and the swans have returned. Nature is exerting its resilience. Maybe this is the wake up/ shake up we humans needed to turn things around, to remember that all of life is connected. We’ve been forced into stillness, a time to reflect. Even now, when we face a global crisis, there is still cause for hope.