The Tiny World of Florence....

 Absence

from the ones we love

from those who are closest

an emptiness

Thank you COVID

you brought to our minds the things we hold most dear

the people we always think of 

and know we will be near

but you slapped us down

ripped us apart

SLAM

Take that!

and as a world we quiver with longing

and loss

and sadness

and 

the human in me

shrinks to a 

little

tiny

longing

that is immense in its smallness

be it just a tiny quiver

how do we find our longed for ones

when will we find them

Its a heartbreak

heartache

such a sadness

and we never knew when this all began

what it would do

to

US

but the world has delivered a message

wait

time

and I shrink into my world

of hope

The Climbing of Mountains from an unwilling Florence

 Where are we now?

Where will we be in a month?

Is your time in a full lockdown? A medium one?

Let me share that this is not just a shutting of the physical door or gate.

Maybe we just feel locked down.... as if there is an enemy waiting outside the door

Waiting for that breath

That touch

Do you feel it?

What do you feel?

It is an isolation from all that we know

From the life we know

Do you hug your friends or do you find yourself awkwardly just moving around them?

Do you kiss your lover eagerly or don't you know who they have been in touch with?

Be safe they say, stay safe they say

I try

I try to encompass that feeling but I am so reluctant to be away from my human need for people

As much as I know that I should remain apart from all that could contaminate my existence

It isn't what I wish

It is time we look to holding our community safely

And in our world we have never seriously had to consider that

because we party

and we travel

and we enjoy our world because we can and should

Shouldn't we?

It is  a lonely journey

So, take those little bits and pieces

of isolated joy

and build them

into mountains

Believe me... I can climb mountains!

Florence , A Prisoner of the Virus.

I began my new job on August 1.

At last, I feel the urge to shout..... at last I can work again! Its been five months of minimal activity.

How sad that I measure my success with this slow , challenging time, by whether my jeans still fit!!!!!

Clearly demonstrates the impact of a life lived in constant battle with the voracious hunger for food!

But this is not why I write...

My corona life has meant a cessation of the things that mean so much.

For those who don't know, I am in Tasmania, the locked island of Australia- but I don't complain except about maskless fools and hoax idiots. My kind friend keeps me mobile , with a loan of a car as Black Betty no longer resides in my garage.

Walking is great, except when you have a lot to do! Walking is great when the path leads through a forest, an Italian village.... the wilds of Moonah are exempt from such praise.

I digress. Tangential meanderings are a constant in this world I inhabit- apologies.

I work in China now, except I am not physically there.

But when I get there, it is so good to know that a whole new world awaits ..

A world such as I have not not known except for my Melbourne adventures as a child, to Chinatown and its bewildering menus.

Until then

I remain

a prisoner of corona

not until its tendrils are trimmed and severed

Not until

the unthinking

the stupid

the vapid partygoers

the footy enthusiasts

the Hillsong gatherers and hunters

not until

the cruel and ignorant

the self centred

the whingers

Not until

we realise that we are all part of one world

and what happens affects us all

not until

humanity draws

its actions

and ideas

so that our world can

be calm

take back its health

Until then

the battle seems to be ongoing

and

I miss my friend.