(a lockdown dream)
Wide endless streets, everywhere I go,
walking around with a puzzled face.
Where am I now, and where am I going,
it’s all familiar, and yet out of place?
So many voices I hear all around me,
each confident, brash and quite sure,
Each direction I take, ends with the same
dark shuttered and bolted front door.
Round I go always listening for news
that points a way towards light,
seeking a way that brings answers
to this seemingly endless night.
Voices cry, ‘Stay at home, stay safe,
no meeting your friends, keep apart.’
The daily litany of death is recited
coming close to crushing my heart.
Now, like dawn breaking over the hills
a vaccine has arrived on the scene;
a way has been found to protect us all,
giving hope where despair has been.
I feel I am awaking from a deep sleep
to see a familiar world once again,
where confusion once reigned, it’s now
a city washed clean by the rain.
January 2021