A Pandemic Tribute to Charlotte Brontë
by Margaret D. Stetz
“I must keep in good health and not die.”
But my wings
may be broken by ensnaring nets
that spread their viral coils.
“I must keep in good health and not die.”
But no basin
will douse the fever
of my burning bed.
The form that looms above me in the night,
pressing its ghastly face to mine,
shreds no bridal veil,
but rends my lungs in two.
Will I wake next morning,
twined around another’s corpse and rise,
or join the Rivers that flow outward towards the setting sun?
Reader, which Bell tolls for me?
Margaret D. Stetz is the Mae and Robert Carter Professor of Women's Studies and Professor of Humanities at the University of Delaware. At age sixteen, she began publishing poetry in literary magazines such as Hanging Loose and Beyond Baroque, but then abandoned the genre for decades, dedicating herself instead to teaching work by other poets, especially women. Recently, however, poems have started to appear suddenly in her dreams, on her computer screen, and on stray pieces of paper on her kitchen counter. These are two of them.
Latest posts by Margaret D. Stetz (see all)
- A Little Pandemic Princess - April 1, 2021
- I Am Nothing Like Jane Eyre - April 1, 2021