Cure

Hope of a vaccine

brings conflicting emotions

The gnawing pains of grief

White Noise

Anger at the diligence of science

and at Time, whose last strike waits not for cure

As little people lay silently at home

in boxes

of brick and glass

and of cold willow

The tardiness of prevention

is a cruelty for some

who sit by sealed doors

to welcome no-one

But 

to think

an end is in sight

For others, so they may once again be brought

to hold and forgive each other 

when sunlight falls

in warm and lively embrace

First published in Varsity in November 2020 and the AHRC-funded project, Poetry and Covid in January 2021.

(October 2020)