To clap, or not to clap, that is the question
Whether it’s nobler in the mind to give
Undying love to those who save us
Or by opposing, expose those
Who have systematically underfunded
A public fed service with malice
It dies, we die, there’s the rub
Chatter and cheer will rightly raise from
Many whose hearts are true and proud
Whose hearts must be hardened
Next at the ballot box to lift us:
There is no country without unity
No unity without truth, no economy
Without each and every soul, always

Barb says it’ll pass
and by May we’ll be done,
can get back to having fun
she says, if not before

And Angela’s had enough
and is meeting up with Amy
for a G&T,
might even protest the virus

Dave the Rave had his mates round
says it was sound AF,
as luck would have it
when the cops showed up
they’d all gone home

back to their families
cos some of them are
key workers and they
didn’t want to keep em up late,
they’re good like that

One: my life spins in small circles
that very infrequently stretch
to somewhere as far as Benidorm

Two: that after 12 years married
she’s right about most things
so I’ll listen more

Three: a lot of annoying stuff
is dust in a much bigger wind
so look for the wins

Four: the kids are what it’s for
and all their silliness, fear and anger
is a handle to clutch on to

Five: we are here and alive
and we should forever
fight to keep it so

Man,
a glut of time
a surfeit, abundance,
embarrassment

for some,
the shackle breaking freedom
gives a new vigour
that’ll be forgotten
when the treadmill restarts

for others,
it’s the edifice,
the granite cliff to scale
to reach
the same old stuff
as always

Down the line
your fat self sits content
at a life spent mostly decent

Your green cheeks absorb for now
and by ****** you grow,
occasionally showing off
to love and wince at later
on Timehop

You don’t think of roots.

Why would you?
Your wood grows supple
and strong with you
alone

But roots make you belong
and yield

Our youthful skill
of ignoring feelings
sticks with some

It’s only us that’s broken

these once unspoken words
reverberate around a globe
that doesn’t wait for us

gets on with growth and bloom
and spawn and gambol
same as always

as children we cry
and bemoan our lot
unjust and unwarranted

but the doublespeak
is busted by the healing
all around

The incomplete dark
of a suburban night
makes seeing the great beyond
hard

but patience, peace
and allowing the eyes to adjust
finally reveals a truth

firefly flicks burn
amongst the static majesty
of constellations
reassuring that all is
still in motion

from our frozen homes
we can gaze and hope
as surely as our kin
watched stars fall like rain