Let me count the days

Poems in the time of Corona

Let me count the days
after Elizabeth Barrett Browning

How do I shelter? Let me count the days.
I shelter all the morn and noon and night
My nerves can stand, as headlines feed my fright
And tell me I should stay here in my place.
I shelter unless shopping just by ways
Of dire need, for wines both red and white.
I shelter wisely, like owls at a height;
I shelter calmly, like bats in their caves.
I shelter with a six-foot rule to use
When I'm outside, for dread of others' breath.
I shelter with a mask I dare not lose
For loss of sense. I shelter fearing death.
Skype, Zoom, are all my life; and by the news
I shall still shelter months: sixth, seventh, eighth....




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