NOVEMBER POEM - LOCKDOWN 2

LOCKDOWN 2

Like the bad old days, but over again,

Like it had to happen, but always to you,

Like the retrograde mission, but not to Mars,

Like déjà vu, but the French went first,

Like it could have been prevented, but not,

Like worst foot forward, never best thought.

Like a falling milk glass, but before the tears,

Like running away, but after worst fears,

Like an explosion at work, but this time from home,

Like a failure of nerve, but one that went halfway,

Like never enough, but about too far,

Like over too soon, but longer than the year.

Like transparently stupid, but never noticeably clear,

Like a rhyme that won’t click, but it must somehow,

Like arms around the weak, but they are on their own,

Like keep the wolves from the door, but not the care home,

Like we are all in this together, but some of us have cars,

Like it is almost over, but the box set’s higher than the moon.

Like a nightmare on Downing Street, but closer still,

Like a necessary evil, but not everyone seems essential,

Like a sharp end of the wedge, but a broken pencil,

Like a mask to save lives, but the lives are losing,

Like a moral duty, but the amoral exact the cost,

Like a time that is slowly revolting, but it is rotten too.

Like I think I am going edgy, but there’s no room left,

Like the world’s gone off its axis, but also bereft,

Like the herd driven by the blind, but we’re clear-eyed,

Like a vehicle roaring off a cliff, but we are inside,

Like a bad past mistake in history, but it is about now,

Like I wish I’d left instead, but it’s past way too late to go.

November 2, 2020

by T Swift

Comments

Janet Vickers said…

Very relevant poem. Thank you Todd.

Tue Nov 03, 05:50:00 pm 2020

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