(Editor’s note: post edited on August 3, 2020 to add the second part, Yang)
Pantoum for the Pandemic – Yin
by Eve West Bessier
When I awake, there are tears for what may be a coming catastrophic loss.
Still, I arise with courageous hope that there will also be a needed gain.
As we struggle to maintain our balance in the midst of all this unsettled chaos.
A new way of living emerges, more gentle, kinder, and eventually more sane.
Still, I arise with courageous hope that there will also be a needed gain.
My pendulum swing from fear to faith appears to be seeking equilibrium.
A new way of living emerges, more gentle, kinder, and eventually more sane.
I cannot know full outcomes now, but I can trust life will triumph in the interim.
My pendulum swing from fear to faith appears to be seeking equilibrium.
I try to not obsess on rising numbers, and focus instead on rising compassion.
I cannot know full outcomes now, but I can trust life will triumph in the interim.
Every day, I pray, stay awake, forgive my nightmares, love is not rationed.
I try to not obsess on rising numbers, and focus instead on rising compassion.
I am allowing quiet mind to emerge by slowing down, by not fighting time.
Every day, I pray, stay awake, forgive my nightmares, love is not rationed.
A childlike flow is beginning to show me how to see beyond fear into the sublime.
I am allowing quiet mind to emerge by slowing down, by not fighting time.
This mandate to be sequestered is opening a space for greater solace in me.
A childlike flow is beginning to show me how to see beyond fear into the sublime.
That ancient story of how the tiny acorn with nurturance becomes the mighty tree.
This mandate to be sequestered is opening a space for greater solace in me.
My hurried disposition takes a seat in the temple of “only what is needed now.”
That ancient story of how the tiny acorn with nurturance becomes the mighty tree.
Balance is the key, and I am willing to seek it, as we all seek it, the ultimate Tao.
My hurried disposition takes a seat in the temple of “only what is needed now.”
I do not yet stay calm consistently, I still worry, especially about my mom who is elderly.
Balance is the key, and I am willing to seek it, as we all seek it, the ultimate Tao.
We can all use this unusual time to find what is vital, what we desperately need to see.
I do not yet stay calm consistently, I still worry, especially about my mom who is elderly.
When I awake, there are tears for what may be a coming catastrophic loss.
We can all use this unusual time to find what is vital, what we desperately need to see.
As we struggle to maintain our balance in the midst of all this unsettled chaos.
Pantoum for the Pandemic – Yang
by Eve West Bessier
The new virus is on every continent, spreading through every country.
Even the smallest, most isolated islands are infected with it.
This pandemic proves how interconnected we all are. Aren’t we?
Gaia trying to kick a few of us off of her skin, so she can breathe in?
Even the smallest, most isolated islands are infected with it.
The perfect vectors to deliver with precision, boats and airplanes.
Gaia trying to kick a few of us off her skin, so she can breathe in?
Those at highest risk gasp for breath in crowded hospital hallways.
The perfect vectors to deliver with precision, boats and airplanes.
Why all the extravagant travel, globetrotting elites with financial clout? Those at highest risk gasp for breath in crowded hospital hallways.
Travel restrictions apply, but out of state license plates still abound.
Why all the extravagant travel, globetrotting elites with financial clout? Have we lost the art of being still, of holding place, of quiet inaction?
Travel restrictions apply, but out of state license plates still abound.
The young are after all immune to death, and to a rational compassion.
Have we lost the art of being still, of holding place, of quiet inaction? Students swarmed the beaches for spring break, party time at any cost.
The young are after all immune to death, and to a rational compassion.
But even young lungs can be scarred for life, and their souls lost?
Students swarmed the beaches for spring break, party time at any cost.
This is just an extended vacation, not a dire global emergency.
But even young lungs can be scarred for life, and their souls lost?
“Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.”
This is just an extended vacation, not a dire global emergency.
The elders are first to fall, but this dis-ease will mark us all vulnerable.
“Ask not for whom the bell tolls. It tolls for thee.”
The numbers rise like an evil tide, an efficient tsunami. Unstoppable.
The elders are first to fall, but this dis-ease will mark us all vulnerable.
The new virus is on every continent, spreading in every country.
The numbers rise like an evil tide, an efficient tsunami. Unstoppable.
The pandemic proves how interconnected we all are. Aren’t we?
