My Journal of a COVID-19, Day 4: “Down Came the Rain and Washed the Spider Out”

Today I’m cheating a bit in that I’m going to be using a poem that I used in a post about four years ago, but I’m going in a slightly different direction, so bear with me.

The poem is by Walt Whitman, titled “A Noiseless Patient Spider.” For anyone who doesn’t remember the poem from four years ago, here it is

I have always found this poem remarkably beautiful in its use of extended metaphor to explore human existence. Just as the spider connects to its world through bonds of filament, so we create the meaning and reality of our life through bonds of love, familiarity, need, etc. Our existence and equilibrium are maintained through the security and balance of these ties.

I was thinking about this poem this morning because the current situation has severed so many of the “lifelines” on which we define our existence. For most of us who are in lockdown, our daily physical interaction is limited to those with whom we share a home, which, if one lives alone, is no one. Though many still work from home, many of the ties of job are falling away. Life in society is limited to “essential” businesses and passing walkers on the street. It occurred to me that no one has touched me in at least five days and for many people it’s longer than that. One by one the filaments are removed, and after so many strings are cut, the spider falls.

I suppose the greatest saving grace at this time is the digital connections that have supplemented (and we have often complained supplanted) our physical bonds. I do not know how I could have endured this week without regular contact with friends through emails, texts, and calls, not to mention the (too much) information received. A digital-less quarantine would be much more difficult, and many more would be in trouble.

I think where I’m going with this is the need to look out for the webs of others and recognizing what role we each play in keeping another person connected. Also, as all of us lose some of our connections, we need to establish new stabilizers through hobbies, reading, volunteering, or anything that can serve as a temporary (or long term) stabilizing line.

Finally, just as the spider who falls, simply climbs back up and begins again, so we need to be aware of those who fall and assist them as they try to reconnect. I know that I have fallen a couple of times in this first week, and I am so grateful to the people in my life who have reached out to support me as I try to establish new systems. This is always true, but just as life has become more intensified by crisis, the fundamental truths are closer to the surface, as is the web that holds us together

Be safe, be strong.

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