Jelani reflects on quarantine in his poem “The City That Keeps On Sleeping”, which is composed of quotes from “A New England Nun”, a short story by Mary Eleanor Wilkins Freeman.
The City That Keeps On Sleeping
There was a difference in the look of the yard, slow and still
There seemed to be a gentle stir arising over everything,
a very premonition of rest and hush
She listened for a little while with half-wistful attention
It was a lonely place, and she felt a little timid
She gazed ahead through a long reach of future days strung together,
every one like the others
She felt as one looking her last upon the faces of dear friends
Robbed of their old environments, they would appear in such new guises that they would almost cease to be themselves
Sitting at her window during long sweet afternoons,
a veritable hermit shut out from society
She looked forward to freedom as the inevitable conclusion
However, she had fallen into a way of placing it so far in the future that it was almost equal to placing it over the boundaries of another life
She had a probable desirability of life:
“Some day I’m going out”
So much sound-play here, Jelani. You have a keen & sensitive ear! Thanks for sharing this.