Lonely in Quarantine

“Today, When I Could Do Nothing” is a poem by Jane Hirshfield about her experiences not being able to go outside for the first time. Specifically, it’s about her rescuing an ant and returning it back to where it belongs. To me, it speaks about the loneliness of staying at home because of the fact that normally people think of ants as an annoyance, but because now she has nothing to do, nothing to think about, Hirshfield decides she might as well help the ant out and put it back where it belongs rather than squashing it as most people might’ve done. This definitely also relates to what we are currently experiencing and helps us to help understand the feeling of not having anything to do. The line, “silence enough to fill cisterns,” I feel really speaks to the reclusiveness of staying at home, that you literally couldn’t hear anybody, or anything, as if you were in a world all by yourself with no one to share it with. The ant could also resemble Hirshfield as well in this case, because of how the ant is all by itself, lost, I could see how you could feel confused and disoriented in this time.

Not only does the poem portray loneliness, she adds to it with a sense of uselessness as well. Through the lines, “The morning paper is still an essential service / I am not an essential service,” she makes it seem as if she were futile to the cause. As well as, talking about not being able to contribute anything. I feel like a lot of people can relate to this feeling, the feeling of wanting to help and feeling like you’re doing nothing, when in reality just staying at home is a huge contribution. Doing that, however, can almost seem as if you’re not doing anything, but this isn’t like a natural disaster, where there is a real tangible and observable way to help victims, it’s a totally different ball game. One where the best thing you can do to help is stay in your home with all of the members of your household and limit yourself from going outside because in reality there is no safe time to leave your house until you can easily get a quick test, or get vaccinated. Overall, I think everyone should know that if you’re staying home you’re doing a great service to your community, and if you’re lonely, just know it won’t last forever.