30th March 2020.
Two weeks ago, I sat in the college library
Typing Notes, Reading books, Writing
Long sentences, down, down,
On the blue-lined pages of my copybook.
Two weeks ago, I was able
To walk into Penneys and pick out
My favourite items from the sale rails
And go up to the checkout
And pay, with cash.
Two weeks ago, I was allowed
To visit my grandfather
In hospital.
Now we are shut out
From spending our days
Seeing, interacting, being.
Two months ago, China and Italy
Began to crumble.
Two weeks ago, we decided not
To let that fate be possible.
I cannot leave my house.
I cannot walk amongst my comrades
In university.
My parents must be careful
Lest they wish to join the dead
Before I am ready.
Two weeks ago, I was sitting
In university, being a student.
Living my student life.
Now time seems to have frozen
And given me
Time, Time to spend
In my house, with a worried mother
And a calm father
And three dogs.
What am I going to do?
That’s not hard to answer but
For some it’s easy to ignore
The truth of the situation.
Let’s all breathe.
Two weeks from now,
Two months from now,
Life will return to what others term
Normal.
I will walk amongst the rails
In Penneys.
With my parents by my side.
I am not one to lecture.
I am one not used to self-
Isolation.
I can’t write sophisticated lines
About a disease that effects all.
All I can do is what I did
Two weeks ago
But
From home.
……….
My name is Chelsea Bright and I am an unpublished writer from Mullingar in County Westmeath. I started writing when I was eight-years-old and I’ve been writing since. I currently have a blog on writing on WordPress and I am also working on my ninth novel. You can find out more about me here: https://www.brightwritesstories.wordpress.com/