Enough’s Enough (for Luke and Nicholas – lock-down in Dublin)
For a while it was fun to home school
Now class with my friends would be cool
It’s boring indoors all the time
Especially as the weather’s been fine
Each day the pattern’s the same
Yet, I long to play football again
My playground for weeks has been home
I long to leave my bedroom and roam
I yearn to run outside and be wild
Not unusual for an average child
To laugh, to whoop and to yell
And to cycle, to scoot. Who can tell
To have fun on the street with my friends
But the answer will be “that depends”
If the lock-down restrictions relax
Once we’re made aware of the facts
We can draw up our own Action Plan
Perhaps, get in the car, if we can
Cross over the border and surprise
Our Nanny and Granda in Sharry Drive
See our cousins in Mornington Place
Overjoyed by the look on their face
To all be together at last
Self-distancing, a thing of the past
Covid19 – Lock-down
The calendar states, eight weeks have gone past
We constantly question How long will it last?
Impatient, dispirited, demanding the impossible
This silent, invisible Covid19
is new to the world, incomprehensible
Confined to our houses
With our children and spouses
Barred from seeing family and friends
With restrictions in place to keep us all safe
No relaxation of these ‘til it ends.
Constant hand washing with soap
Gives us good reason to hope
With the addition of gloves and a mask
And obeying what we have been asked
Through time the pandemic will pass
Words like spike, wave, curve will depart
And with a future ahead we’ll take heart
Plan with prudence to leave our cocoon
Some, querying surely it’s too soon
But great numbers are eager to start
Reclaiming the freedom, we lost
At a very high personal cost
To move where we want or stand still
As a fundamental right to free-will
Seeing loved ones up close – such a thrill
Neighbours will throw open their doors
Stand close to each other once more
The children will pour onto the street
No longer a short daily treat
As they shout, run, cycle or scoot
The inhabitants of our little isle
Will throw caution to the winds for a while
Display banners and buntings en masse
To celebrate the virus has passed
With street parties that will not be surpassed
How we long for this day to arrive
With constant prayer that we will survive
Await guidance on what’s been arranged
The price of our liberty exchanged
For lives unbelievably changed
Until these restrictions relax
And we’re made aware of the facts
Using zoom meetings and conference calls
Within Westminster or Stormont walls
And daily updates from their halls
We will continue to live by the rules
Set in place to much ridicule
Listen to constant predictions
Aimed at lessening restrictions
Said with little conviction, at all
Meanwhile we’ll take up the reigns
With home-schooling, work and the strain
Of juggling, far too many tasks
Complying with what we’ve been asked
Until the Coronavirus has passed