Matters of the heart are not easily dismissed or disguised
Thus the elaborate masks we wear.

An illusion, so others can't see
Truth is not easily cast aside or veiled

Though a mask can conceal these for a short while
Truth, like air, will in time find its way to the surface

For the heart holds truth and truth is easily sought
It is a brilliant light that can not be buried

Its intensity reaches the greatest depths of our souls
And reveals itself through the windows

An older lady…No mask… arsenic and old lace
scuttling along…so I think to cross.
Just to give her more space.
“I haven’t got it…” she shouts, full bore, almost in my face
“No… but I might have - you just don’t know.
There’s no point in you having a go!”

“I’m wearing a mask to protect both of us
so I don’t know why you’re making a fuss.”
“I told you I haven’t got it… so you can just get stuffed”
Whoa… a minute!… Who’s rattled your bars?
Would you like a mask. I always carry a spare?
“You can just *******”, she said “ ‘cos I really don’t care!”

She’s the one who waves her stick at cars
and picks imaginary fluff off her coat…
So she needs to be looked out for… looked after.
Next time I’ll be on the look out. I’ll take special note
maybe go round the block the other way.
That way I won’t upset her; she’ll have a better day.

I know this situation is affecting everyone
in every country all around the world.  People get tetchy.
But that’s no good reason to abandon reason.
It’s rough, it’s tough - and even good manners are
sometimes not enough… So make time
for others who can’t make the best of things.

Best accept we’re in this for the long haul
because that’s what it’s going to be…
For a generation at least this will be
the way we have to live… balancing
breathing freely against economics,
against promises of socialising in the sun…

Then - No Fun!...No Frolics

Against drip-stands, ventilators and fears that run
deep into our county, our country… our world.
Here she comes again… “I ain’t got it, I ain’t got it!”
Good for you girl!

My belonged freedom
Has no longer vision

And it's beautiful
How everything falls
In the rythm of chaos
I don't know reality

We are seeing as machines
with no feelings
with just pretensions
And then just fall

Why does anyone don't notice?
How disturbingly normal is this
Maybe they like their masks
It's safe and empty

Just like a machine

All customers are required to wear a mask
except
Steve, Yuri, Pablo, Kevin, John, Roy, Bill

All customers are required to wear a mask
except
Mary, Irina, Maria, Karen, Joyce, Tasha, Jill

All customers are required to wear a mask
except
my cousin, my uncle, my grandma, my dad, me, all our dears

All customers are required to wear a mask
except
those we deem immune from our fears

All customers are required to wear a mask
except
when it's inconvenient and uncomfortable to confront others

All customers are required to wear a mask
except
when we're too busy burying our mothers and brothers

Meant to flower and blossom with power,
Seeds are planted with care (here, there).
But we’re lost in the shadows – we’re graceless.
Empty masks are around us – they’re faceless.

What becomes of us (empty and hollow)?

Not a flower with a powerful glow.
‘Cause a seed, as you know, doesn’t grow,
When it’s hidden so deep in the darkness.
Will the light and its warmth ever find us?