Ode to Covid 19

COVID 19 please tell us why are you so mean?

You’re doing your damage without being seen

We’re hiding indoors while you rampage around

You fly round the globe without making a sound

Aeroplanes remain grounded, but you’ve found a way

To reach every corner of our world, and play

With our throats and our lungs and our senses of smell

So we cough and we pant and for some it is hell.

 

Social distancing now – means 2 meters away

From the people we pass in the hour of the day

When we go for a walk or to get some loo roll

From the shop, where we queue with police on patrol

Making sure we stay back, making sure we go home

Making sure we lock down, making sure we don’t roam.

 

And our children are there, and we’re over here

So we call them, we Skype them, we just want to hear

That they’re safe and they’re well and they’re happy and strong

And we miss sitting with them and having those long

Days with grandchildren, barbecues, lunches and drinks

And all the occasions that none of us thinks

About much – we just did them, then cleaned up the mess

When they’d gone.  But now we know not to transgress

The new rules of life, for life – life over death

To ensure that we’re able to catch our own breath.

 

There’s another contagious condition around

It’s called kindness. It’s impact will be more profound.

It’s a side effect of COVID 19 you see

There’s no vaccine – it seems to infect you and me

With some symptoms of thoughtfulness, wisdom and care

As it rampages round us kindness will repair

All the cracks we have made before COVID 19

All the stuff we’ve collected, the people we’ve been

Until now.  Now we’ve stopped and we’ve seen what we’ve seen.

We’ve seen love, we’ve seen life, we’ve seen stillness and sky

We’ve seen streets that are empty and nothing to buy.

We’ve seen waving from strangers and smiles far away

And each other as precious – the light in our day.

 

COVID 19 maybe you are cruel to be kind

You are doing your damage but you will remind

Us to stop all the shopping, rampaging around

Flying all round the globe barely touching the ground

Never smelling the roses, just finding a way

To reach every corner of this world and play

With our future, our safety, our heart and our soul

COVID19 maybe what you break makes us whole.

Jenny

2020