To Forge A New Solitude

maybe it is necessary to forge  a new solitude

to stop becoming the news and then when you turn it off

to stop being anything at all, to then slump like a ragdoll

maybe it is necessary to just go back to the way it was before

there was any news at all

not to be in perpetual motion, not to keep

putting the towers back in the skies

not to keep up with world wide gossip not to rave about world wide

pride

not to keep testing yourself for the Plague 24 hours a day

to go back to the beginning as far  as you can make it

and on foot.

for a long time, watching the leaves turn in the wind

the gathering of rain in small pools

the runoff of streams; to eat your breakfast quietly

to breathe the stars and apple trees.

to pray to God on living sod.

not to be weighted with what is expected of you

from social self righteousness

from all that is vying for your shattered attention

from people who have dubious intentions

we are not weather vanes turning in the wind

we are not meant to live this way

so that the soul is sobbing like a small child

who has lost her parents in the marketplace

of the seashell reticence of Time

mary angela douglas 7 january 2022