Silent Spring

Listen to the recording of thie poem, recited by Richard Berlin, MD: Silent and Solemn Spring.

CORONAVIRUS CHRONICLES

-Series Editor, H. Steven Moffic, MD

Slipping out of quarantine,

we walk hand in hand

by Dunback Meadow

into the nurturance

of pine grove

and Spring’s migrant birds:

warblers, kinglets, and vireos,

sweetly oblivious of virus

or the cold loneliness

of the solitary old.

Just past Clematis Brook,

we see a lone goose,

her belly pressed

against dun meadow grass.

Silent, still, bereft of mate,

she takes no notice.

But in the viral possibilities

that weigh upon us,

we take solemn note

of her.

Disclosures:

Dr Pies is Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Lecturer on Bioethics and Humanities, SUNY Upstate Medical University; Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Tufts University School of Medicine; and Editor in Chief Emeritus of Psychiatric Times (2007-2010).