Every two weeks when I attend my assigned team meeting at the hospice where I work, I provide a reflection for the team meeting. Sometimes I find a reflection or poem or quote. Other times I just write something to share. The very gracious team members on my team listen to and accept what I have written and never complain that what I write is just too weird.
Several weeks ago, I knew what I was thinking and feeling and what I wanted my team reflection to be about. I searched high and low for something that shared my sentiment; but I never found anything. So….I started to write. Was I ever surprised when what came out was a poem! I had never written a poem before. I check with my retired English teacher friend, and she told me it was definitely a poem! How about that?! The poem is below. I pray that it may somehow speak to where and when you are right now.
COVID – The Middle
The middle is an interesting place to be,
And there are so many kinds of “middles”
To experience in our lives and world.
First, we have the “middle child,”
Known for often being the peacekeeper – which is genuinely nice.
But then there is the “middle of the road,”
Which if this is where you are driving is not the safest place to be.
Then there is the middle of the back seat of a car.
The uncomfortable place where no one wants to sit.
And, of course, the cursed “middle age,”
Where many sensible people have experienced a “crisis.”
But right now, I really hope we are in the middle.
We have been –
Wearing masks
Sheltering at home
Staying 6’ apart
Working from home
Social distancing
Not touching
Zooming
Inventing new ways to do old things
And washing, washing, washing our hands
For five plus months now.
I live in hope that by January we will have a vaccine.
If this could just possibly be,
We would now be in the middle.
This means we are no longer slogging up the hill,
But we are soon to be coasting down the hill.
My hope, my prayer, my blessing for all of you is that we may all be now in the middle.