How history repeats itself, a poem

Following is a poem written by Kathleen O'Mara in 1869, and reprinted during the 1918 pandemic. It was posted by Pepper Romo on her Facebook page on April 3.

It seemed to me as relevant today as it was then, right down to the homemade face masks.


And people stayed at home
And read books
And listened
And they rested
And did exercises
And made art and played
And learned new ways of being
And stopped and listened more deeply.

Someone meditated, someone prayed
Someone met their shadow
And people began to think differently
And people healed.
And in the absence of people who
Lived in ignorant ways
Dangerous, meaningless and heartless,
The earth also began to heal.

And when the danger ended
And people found themselves
They grieved for the dead
And made new choices
And dreamed of new visions
And created new ways of living
And completely healed the earth
Just as they were healed.

Two kids during the 1918-19 Spanish flu epidemic.