Maybe make a cryptic poem
Referencing them
And asking you
Did all of that
Really happen?
Costa Coffee on the corner
Just a cup of Joe
Something fresh
After all the queuing
At Sainsbury’s
No matter it’s autumn,
Winter or early spring
I’ll gladly drink it up
In the park just beyond
If only there were a bench free
Air icier than early March
Elm trees recognisable
A mile off
Their gnarly boughs
Reminding you of home
Before testing centres
And vax centres
The top word of ‘21
In Oxford
Is vax
What would you do differently
If you could go back
To the start?
Would you just
Do the same again?
I can’t remember
What my doctor looks like anymore
The people who really helped you
You can’t well remember them
Either
Like ice cubes melting in summer
Or autumn leaves falling now
Some went quickly
Others stuck around for a bit
Though you doubted for how much longer
It doesn’t matter though
When you’re at the bitter end
Of what was quite an era
And you ask yourself, did all of that
Really happen?
Singing to the stars
You say it’s one last time
You walk back through it all
Forests, lawns, play parks
Only up there now it’s cloudy
Can’t believe even this
Has become nostalgia
Remember that girl you spoke to
On the other side of the world?
You wonder where she is now?
Rhododendrons behind spikes
Branches reaching out
Like prisoners’ arms
Seeking out nothing more
Than crumbs from your table
I don’t treat the spaces I live in
Like landfill sites
And forget my dreams
‘Cause it’s the right now
That’s the glory of the night
The outbuildings set up
Like some medieval village
It’s just the spray paint on corrugated iron
Like Banksy
Shows it isn’t so
The lights are off now
It’s been closed down
And I could have been
The one
To have done that
Referencing them
And asking you
Did all of that
Really happen?
Costa Coffee on the corner
Just a cup of Joe
Something fresh
After all the queuing
At Sainsbury’s
No matter it’s autumn,
Winter or early spring
I’ll gladly drink it up
In the park just beyond
If only there were a bench free
Air icier than early March
Elm trees recognisable
A mile off
Their gnarly boughs
Reminding you of home
Before testing centres
And vax centres
The top word of ‘21
In Oxford
Is vax
What would you do differently
If you could go back
To the start?
Would you just
Do the same again?
I can’t remember
What my doctor looks like anymore
The people who really helped you
You can’t well remember them
Either
Like ice cubes melting in summer
Or autumn leaves falling now
Some went quickly
Others stuck around for a bit
Though you doubted for how much longer
It doesn’t matter though
When you’re at the bitter end
Of what was quite an era
And you ask yourself, did all of that
Really happen?
Singing to the stars
You say it’s one last time
You walk back through it all
Forests, lawns, play parks
Only up there now it’s cloudy
Can’t believe even this
Has become nostalgia
Remember that girl you spoke to
On the other side of the world?
You wonder where she is now?
Rhododendrons behind spikes
Branches reaching out
Like prisoners’ arms
Seeking out nothing more
Than crumbs from your table
I don’t treat the spaces I live in
Like landfill sites
And forget my dreams
‘Cause it’s the right now
That’s the glory of the night
The outbuildings set up
Like some medieval village
It’s just the spray paint on corrugated iron
Like Banksy
Shows it isn’t so
The lights are off now
It’s been closed down
And I could have been
The one
To have done that
