This time last year

Last year we visited Haigh Park in Wigan and attended one of the Friday Food Festivals. It was packed, it was a sunny summer evening, and we stood in close proximity to other people and bumped into them without a care. Because that was 2019 and such things didn't matter. Now it's 2020 and it matters very much. This is my first attempt to express my feelings about the pandemic in verse. It's rough and ready and doesn't aspire to anything beyond conveying a sense of loss somewhere between there and here..............

If you were there at all last summer- this is for you (and if you are in the photograph, I hope you don't mind).

This time last year, we were there

Mingling and moving through a crowd of strangers

Shoulder to shoulder without a care

No thought in our heads of any dangers

 

We were there this time last year

Knowing all we had to do was make some choices

The aromas demanding attention as we drew near

Shouting to hear ourselves above the voices

 

Last year, we were there, last time

Surrounded by faces we didn’t know

Hearing random conversational rhythm and rhyme

Lit by the sinking sunset glow

 

This year it cannot even go ahead

How could it, when so much has changed?

Our certainties have turned and fled

The fabric of our lives is disarranged

 

Go ahead, this year, with a trip? We cannot

even contemplate a Hotel stay

A chance to visit somewhere when it’s hot

Let chance throw something new our way

 

We cannot go ahead this year

And stand with strangers we will never see again

And laugh and smile and be free from fear

So thanks for last year, Haigh Park Wigan, here’s to coping with the pain