Patmos Lamentation

"Romantic projections and idealizations are not sustainable." Vanessa Machado de Oliveira in Hospicing Modernity

I’m troubled to write this lamentation. I wish it were a song of joy.

Context

Stephen and I are in a hermitage on Patmos in Greece. We didn’t choose it. Both of us are sick. Stephen is on his third day of the flu (not Covid). We’re scheduled to take the ferry back to Athens tonight.

I’m on day 13 of a cold, likely caught from a kid coughing behind me on…