Lynn Ungar, “Pandemic.”

Practice: The Wisdom of Poetry

When I consider the call to contemplative awareness and solidarity offered by CAC teachers this week, I cannot think of a better practice than the exquisite poem “Pandemic” from poet and minister Lynn Ungar. It was written in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak in the United States before most of us were asked to stay at home. Even in those first moments, she envisioned a way of responding to the crisis with love, not fear. The wisdom of this poem goes far beyond the circumstances of the pandemic. May it serve as a guide as we embark on the work ahead of us—striving to eradicate the “viruses” of white supremacy and systemic injustice in the United States and the world.

Pandemic

What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath—
the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down.
And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives
are in one another’s hands.
(Surely, that has come clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.
Promise this world your love—
for better or for worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we all shall live.

—Lynn Ungar 3/11/20