Christina Rossetti ~ The Thread of Life
The irresponsive silence of the land,
The irresponsive sounding of the sea
Speak both one message of one sense to me:–
Aloof, aloof, we stand aloof, so stand
Thou too aloof bound with the flawless band
Of inner solitude; we bind not thee;
But who from thy self-chain shall set thee free?
What heart shall touch thy heart? what hand thy hand?–
Sunday Sayings: Christina Rossetti’s “Threads of Life” poem of solitudinal separation has, in the context of current catastrophes, a most telling veracity.
PoetryPix 
If a life could own another life –
a wolf a deer, a fish a bird,
a man a tree – who would
exchange a life with me?
Dark in the forest a path
goes down, soft as moss
a voice comes on: my hand
on bark, my stilled face alone –
Then water, then gravel, then stone.
Wm. Stafford – Identities
(pardon please)
no pardons necessary Neil – a beautifully apt companion piece
Indeed it is. (K)