Spoken word on Covid-19. Its easy to forget how blase we were all about this before X-mas when it was something happening in a far away land. Now the whole world has been turned upside down.
My fingers achingly
Trace a path in the air
Imagining your fingertips
Touching tentatively
A fleeting apparition
No longer there.
So inconsequentially it began
Yet another far off disease
Affecting others overseas
Drowned out by incessant noise
Dismissed by the humdrum of every day living
A second thought not given.
But slowly it took over lives
Incessantly the news focused on the pandemic
The growing horror overseas
A drumbeat growing louder and louder
The spectre of death
Harder to ignore
Finally capturing our imagination.
And then suddenly it was upon us
Our politicians fumbling and stumbling
Posturing and prevaricating
Ignoring the playbook of epidemics
Putting off the hard decisions
Consigning our fate
Because of the lack of balls.
In the face of divided opinion
We did what we did best
With false feelings of invincibility
We carried on as we had
Oblivious to the facts
Living the lie of wishful thinking
And so a new regime finally began
One of working from home
With great uncertainty of the future
Livelihoods shattered in an instant
Now playing at social isolation
Against a silent killer
One that wore no mask at all.
A temperature was how it started
Another man flu we hoped and prayed
But after day three the truth was out, it turned
Breathing more laboured
A constant fever soared
Coughing fits became the norm.
I don't recall how I got here
In ICU
Alone and away from all I love and care
Sedated
I drift in and out of sleep
And for the last time
In my mind
I trace your fingers in the air...