2020

2nd December 2020

To mark vaccine day, and some hope at the end of a shitty year all round…

The year began as ’19 ended,
What lay in store not comprehended,
But as corona spread its worst,
We saw our fate. The year was cursed.
Entering a strange existence,
Life maintained, but at a distance,
All this I’d say, with some precision,
Was not our 2020 vision.

We all locked down, our hatches battened,
To heed the call, ‘the curve needs flattened’,
Consigned to our domestic dramas,
And all day working in pyjamas.
We tried to keep morale from sinking,
Informed by rather wishful thinking,
‘We’ll stay apart, we’ll keep away,
And surely we’ll be done by May?’

But the spiteful plague, it would not yield,
Some fell too soon, some forced to shield,
Too many paid a dreadful cost,
Too many of our people lost,
Widespread business devastation,
Squeezed out workers’ desolation,
We clung to hope, intoned en masse,
‘This will be done, this too shall pass’.

Then came the news of our salvation,
A covid beating vaccination,
Said to meet its key objective,
Being 95 percent effective,
We thank them all for their appliance,
The women and the men of science,
At last it seems alright to say,
‘I think we’re going to be okay’.

The world, perhaps, is on the mend,
Too soon to say we’re near the end.
But could it be we’re slowly winning?
Is this the end of the beginning?
As hope returns, our eyes agleam,
We start to plan, we start to dream,
Allow ourselves to reminisce,
Of all the things we really miss…

Supporters chanting from the stand,
The joy of seeing your favourite band,
Boozy nights out with a chum,
Seeing work mates, hugging mum,
Christmas party hokey cokey,
Late night drunken karaoke,
Bar mitzvahs, weddings, celebration,
Singles’ random copulation,
The glory of the sing-a-long,
Or standing, arms up, in the throng,
The thrill of dancing in the mosh,
The train to work, the daily squash,
The feelgood of a warm embrace,
The city centre’s vibrant space,
Going to worship without fear,
Swigging someone else’s beer,
Socialising in a mix,
Beyond the bloody rule of six,
Seeing friends and being tactile,
No need for masks, no hidden smile.

As one year ends, new year begins,
Lets hope we all have better things,
An era with communal features,
We are by nature social creatures.
Blind, we underestimated,
What should be appreciated,
It’s clearer now, we’ve all seen plenty,
Our hindsight’s truly 2020.