Released 17 March 2020 - republished December 2021
TRUE STORY
First, you are scared , yes, very -
This thing is swooping down like a great monster-hawk to grab at us suddenly in batches and moments of shock.
Run! They say: run into the shops, run away home, scurry into your burrow little furry ones
And there is ‘this cannot be’ and ‘how on earth’ and ‘what about maisy/ma/my dearest friend/my psyche’
And have-you-got-your-medicine
And what-about-my-treatment
And realising that thing can’t happen
Nor that
Nor that either ...
Realising this is horror
And grief
Fear,
Impossible
And unthinkable
And rushing for cover again
Tears and awe
The planes are coming down
Brace! Brace!
This thing has come
And the Scientists are making our vaccines as fast as they can
And the fires will flicker and burn
And not everyone can do this
And not everyone can do this right
***
But the birds haven’t heard the news,
They are busy at their singing and nests
Pecking at ladybirds and teasel
The hedgehogs are managing a little better this year
The badgers are building new dens like children
The sun will rise, over and again, on the days
The moon will keep waxing and waning her winking eye over us
The stars still sprinkle the velvety night with bright glitter as always
And hold Space for the satellites
We will wait, and break, mourn, and shake
Fight and despair and remember
Send messages and love
Drum ourselves in the empty streets
We will peer for weeks at each other through windows and whatsapp
Calling in the hush our songs that keep the living alive
And comfort the dead and the tenders of death
We will do what we can in our tiny corners, keeping the fabric mended
And notice the things we couldn’t pay attention to before
In our little agar dish of the world
Something new and ancient
Nothing and always the same
Death swoops at The Animal human
And we must run to earth.
