Don't Leave Me Alone

A funny and touching play by Dina Rubina about love, performed wonderfully by the author:

“There are things in a person’s life that, under any circumstances, will always be the most important for them. Remember Karl Bryullov’s painting ‘The Last Day of Pompeii’? The eruption of a volcano—earth shakes and burns, marble statues fall from stone porticoes… Look closely at the central figures of the characters—what do you see there? Strain, try to guess the emotions from their faces. Fear? Of course. Desperation? Naturally! Reluctance to die? Of course… And yet the most important thing we see in these faces is: a mother shielding her child with her body, a husband covering his wife with a toga; a son pleading with a frail father to move on. We see love. Love! The earth opens up beneath our feet, but, as ordinary people, normal and human, moved by the creation of the world primarily by: Love.

Stepping away from the news feed, above all we worry about our loved ones. We read and watch this news feed only for them. Just so they stay near. ‘Do you hear? — each of us says in our minds — “Don’t leave me alone!”’