The trampoline girl, my lockdown saviour by Denise McQuaid

She laughed and played and kept me sane.

She was the sound of joy,

the sound that showed that lockdown would surely end.

Each time she bounced she gave me hope.

Each time she laughed she gave me light.

She didn’t faulter, her buoyancy – my hope – remained.

She jumped, I zoomed

As the heat rose and the sun came out,

she became the beat of the future.

Over the garden wall I learned her name.

“She’s Connie, she of the bounce and the laugh,

she’s Connie, the girl on the trampoline.”

Would she stay with me through the lockdown cloud of zoom?

She jumped, I zoomed.

She taught me patience, she said hang on, she gave my day a start and an end.

She spoke to my heart, bouncing in her trampoline bubble,

Whilst my day was defined by calls and hard conversations

My soundtrack was shaped by laughter and light.

She jumped, I zoomed

She came daily, she lasted the pass, could I?

Could I stay the course, keep going, keep zooming?

She jumped, I zoomed