I’m over at Esther Chilton’s blog, here, with a rather sombre poem… please go and say hi.
I wrote this after I listened to actress, Ruthie Henschell describing being allowed to visit and hold her mother one year after lockdown started and how her mother is now speechless and incapable of walking, all lost during her enforced isolation; a cruel death-in-life.
I’ve lost you to Covid.
In March we held hands. Shared memories and chocolates.
They closed the doors and the sun shone on the empty windows.
Your smile faded, like a slow sunset
Angry reds and bruised purples.
Others died and we maintained our unsocial distance.
Summer arrived, bringing hope and a new window,
The only rain battering it our tears as it stayed shut.
We locked gazes but we saw reflections of ourselves,
Just absences.
Our words drifted against the glass, familiar phrases beating that pane,
Deadened, turning you wordless.
Autumn’s bronzes set hard,
You sculpted yourself in your familiar seat
So still, breathing your silent despair.
Untouched.
We left winter’s bleak void for another hope:
A vaccine.
A new opening. A new promise.
Test, temperature and there you were.
I held you, those so familiar bony shoulders, tangy scent, that little scar.
But you’d gone, you’d left the building of your body.
A living breathing husk,
Mummyfied.
Saved by science, killed by kindness.
We shared treats but only I have the memories
And no one to share them with.
TanGental 
So, so.poignant 🙏🏼😢💜
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I was very touched.
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Just beautiful, Geoff ❤
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Thank you Ruth
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Very well put, Geoff.
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Of a world thus covidnated. Words so often fail but these got pretty close Geoff.
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I was so touched by her dilemma. That’s how poetry starts. Thank you Gary
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Wow, that goes so deep. This is so well conveyed of how well-meant protection turns into a personal tragedy.
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Yes the worst epitaph ‘they meant well’…
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My father used to say: The opposite of “good” is “well meant”.
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Wise man
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He was!
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Sad poem but covers a sad situation so well. Thanks, Geoff.
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It is often that road paved with good intentions, isn’t it?
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It seems that way.
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and some are allowed to die because it is easier than to be encouraged to live…
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It’s heartbreaking how much of what makes us human has been put on hold by the pandemic. Someday it will be over, but how much will be gone forever?
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I suppose the extremes we’ve experienced aren’t surprising given our inexperience of pandemics.
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“Survived worldwide pandemic shitshow” isn’t exactly what I dreamed of adding to my resume. (Although—considering the alternative—maybe not so bad…)
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So painful; thanks for sharing this with us!
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How much we have lost … well done.
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OMG Geoff…… this hit me in the gut.
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Sorry….
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don’t be……… great writing.
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I heard that too. Beautiful response.
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Thank you.
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Geoff this is just so very poignant and so true for so many. A beautiful poem on such a sad situation. 💜
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Such a sad situation and only too true for far too many.
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This is so touching. Beautifully captured. KL ❤
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Well said, sir.
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I have never read such a perfect description of the choice to preserve life at the cost of losing the joy of being alive.
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Thank you. So many overt tragedies and behind them so many more hidden ones…
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If there were a Grayson’s Poetry Club, this would be in it 😔
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Ooh that’s very generous!!
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