Little did we know. A poem by Sonia Lavelle

Little did we know,
in October, not so long ago,
as we started this academic year,
with a little internal cheer.
That we’d be in a world turned upside down,
a world of chaos and turmoil for some.

For others, a chance to savour things we’d forgotten to do over the years,
like spend time with our families instead of driving to work,
or walking the dog in early morning fog.
Now it’s all remotely this and remotely that,
we’ve even considered adopting a cat.

So, who are we now if we no longer can do what we did before?
Old habits have died, some have become the new norm.
Can we pay our healthcare workers properly instead of giving them a clap?
I mean, what on earth can they do with that?

As we forge ahead in these new times,
take off our blinkers before we go blind.
Start giving a care instead of not giving a toss,
deal with our lives and our deep sense of loss.

We will go on, we will prevail,
sure, we only have to look at a garden snail.
They don’t travel fast, their journey is slow,
they get there in the end, this much we know.

Twenty twenty, much is said about having perfect vision,
but this year will be about accepting revision.
Looking at what we’ve always done,
and asking was it ever really fun?

Little did we know,
indeed, now in the month of June,
that all we would want is to see our families again soon.

The things we took for granted,
many times before,
have now been replaced,
with a new found respect,
for the things once considered a chore.

I miss my family,
I miss those visits home,
I miss passing through toll booths,
I miss the open road.
I miss the mobile karaoke,
screaming at the top of my lungs,
no one there to hear me try to reach those higher notes.

Little did we know,
little did I know,
that I would dearly miss,
Life, as it was, all those months ago.

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