Connections

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R._N._Taber 
It can take something like a pandemic to make us understand the difference between solitude and isolation. 
Not unlike many people, I used to think I was self-sufficient in so far as  I often enjoy my own company, forgetting the truth expressed in a poet's immortal words, "No man is an island entire of itself, every man/ is a piece of the continent, a part of the main..." - John Donne, Meditation 17. 
Yes, we have the Internet and mobile phones to connect wit each other 24/7, but what can compare with meeting up with friends for real?
In other words, "Solitude is fine, but you need someone to tell that solitude is fine." - ― Honoré de Balzac 

CONNECTIONS

Friends and family would often ask 

why I so liked to be alone, didn’t the loneliness

get to me, undermine

mind-body-spirit, leave me more asleep

than awake?

I would tell them I needed such time

for reflection, being and communing with nature,

confiding my concerns

to flowers and trees, the more reassured

by their responses 

In such good company, how could I

ever be lonely, such birdsong always at the ready

to suss out my moods,

empathising with and lifting me, gifting me

their joie de vivre

solitude and I, we were such intimates

that I all but forgot human beings are social animals,

much like those of a kind

in the natural world, no less inclined towards

inter-dependence 

Suddenly, my circumstances took a turn

for the worse, a pandemic striking us out of nowhere,

demanding we take care,

world societies, communities in lockdown,

if not self-isolation

among others least afraid of being alone,

I’d tell myself there could be no living in fear for me

of disease or death,

for didn’t I care so for Earth Mother that she, 

would care for me? 

Time passed, one day much like another,

solitude losing its attraction, its not being of my choice

nor anyone to hear

and (hopefully) connect with what I had to say,

empathy or no...

In my imagination, I would try talking to trees,

confiding in flowers as ever, but having to stay indoors

meant I could not walk

among them, let the wind inspire them to respond,

by turn of leaf, lean of stem

As an alternative reality, the kinder inner eye 

has to be first among equals, sure to keep human nature

and Earth Mother,

in sync along such lines as coloured green,

(one for all, all for one)

I began to lose heart, not least for no one in whom

to confide even imagination, invite to share the intimacy

I so enjoy with nature, 

and slowly it came upon me, an emptiness

called loneliness… 

Now, though, I see trees growing leafy once again,

flowers opening up to spring, blossom like a gentle rain,

Earth Mother...

inspiring us all to defeat Covid-19 by way of an innate

capacity for renewal

 Copyright R. N. Taber, 2021