Endeavoring to Balance Myself

Greetings Friends!

This morning I went on a hunt for poetry. I searched for words that might have been written in 1918 when the Spanish flu epidemic was raging in this country. I don’t know what I thought I would find but find something I did. September 1918 was written by Amy Lowell who was an American writer, editor, translator and performer who dedicated her life to the cause of modern poetry. Her thoughts apply more to World War 1 as seen in line 9. However, I found it to be a lovely encouragement to appreciate the blessings that are ours this day and to remember that the difficulties of this present time won’t last forever.

This afternoon was the color of water falling through sunlight;

The trees glittered with the tumbling of leaves;

The sidewalks shone like alleys of dropped maple leaves,

And the houses ran along them laughing out of square, open windows.

Under a tree in the park,

Two little boys, lying flat on their faces,

Were carefully gathering red berries

To put in a pasteboard box.

Some day there will be no war,

Then I shall take out this afternoon

And turn it in my fingers,

And remark the sweet taste of it upon my palate,

And note the crisp variety of its flights of leaves.

To-day I can only gather it

And put it into my lunch-box,

For I have time for nothing

But the endeavor to balance myself

Upon a broken world.

In the middle of this last week I was at that place of “endeavoring to balance myself” and I was failing miserably. Thankfully, texting with friends and phoning my mother helped me get closer to being in balance. I will admit that I am better at telling others to reach out, than at reaching out myself, but none of us needs to go it alone.

So how are you doing? We are all dealing with some level of anxiety and it can be exhausting. Please make sure you are taking care of yourself and if you find that you need someone to cheer you on, please reach out.