Mary Patrick October 15, 2020

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Doris Duke Loop October 14, 2020

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together and apart

Of all the thousands of people in this place

Younger and older going about their lives

So few are known to me to greet by name

Much less to say anything personal

Seeing a stranger I sometimes wonder

What it would be like to get to know them

Imagining about their life and what stories

They could tell me if we were friends

But I keep my distance especially now

As the pandemic intensifies our isolation

Having to withdraw into our separate lives

Susceptible to a sense of alienation

Some take risks being desperate to socialize

Needing to talk face to face over a meal

Wanting to be close enough to touch

To eat drink and be happy for tomorrow you die

But most take precautions being careful

Hoping to live to see another happier day

Knowing we are not alone in our challenges

Contending with similar difficulties

The disconnect of being together and apart

Impacts all of us but more if we are alone

In a kind of parallel collective experience

Each in our individual household silos

Warm and dry under comfy covers

On this cold and wet October night

We are happy to be next to each other

Lucky to be enjoying good health

McKeags Meadow October 11, 2020

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