COVID 19 [Sonnets Remembering Elizabeth Bishop's Magic Sonnet in Part 3]

"I am in need of music that would flow

Over my fretful, feeling finger-tips,

Over my bitter-tainted, trembling lips,

With melody, deep, clear, and liquid-slow.

Oh, for the healing swaying, old and low,

Of some song sung to rest the tired dead,

A song to fall like water on my head,

And over quivering limbs, dream flushed to glow!

There is a magic made by melody:

A spell of rest, and quiet breath, and cool

Heart, that sinks through fading colors deep

To the subaqueous stillness of the sea,

And floats forever in a moon-green pool,

Held in the arms of rhythm and of sleep"

“I am in Need of Music” by Elizabeth Bishop (1928)

I am in need of a cure that would flow

Over my fretful lungs and feeling finger-tips,

Over my mask-covered, trembling lips

With internal pulse, deep, clear, and liquid-slow.

Oh, for the healing swaying old and low,

Some breathing sung, lying sideways on the bed,

A throat song to build the waves in my head,

And over my quivering cheeks flushed to glow.