“We Woke Up One Day”

An underestimated flu, came out of the blue, seemingly baffling the most academic

Deadly and surreal, it felt like a film, it came to be called The Pandemic

Years worth of plans, I will's & I do's, dates no longer envisaged

Debates raged about the meaning of it all, was Mother Nature sending a message

Lo and behold politics were involved, is it China? Someone must be to blame

Lockdown by March, times were stark, this COVID was more than they'd claimed

Life was shaken, shelves were bare, toilet-roll stocks were ravaged

Harsh times reveal the best and worst of us, desperation unveiled the savage

Creativity prevailed, we loomed over Zoom, many lost jobs, a huge financial blow

Rightly a lifeline manifested itself, we applauded the help of furlough

We put faith in our leaders, be an example, help us, is a solution coming?

Unsurprisingly they failed to guide us though, the vocal were Boris, Donald and Cummings

Mixed messages galore, a consistent chore, they believed their words inspired hope

But how can one have faith in men, who've only just learned, to wash their hands with soap?

"Unprecedented" became the overused word, our circumstance led to conspiracy

Eating bats, tin foil hats and a New World Order, coronavirus really comes from 5G!

Amongst the questions and daily theories, a shotgun shell of truth would scatter

COVID-19 was our shared reality, but again injustice proved Black Lives didn't matter

A combined fury of virus and racism, George Floyd became a household name

The message was loud and clear, enough is enough, we demand systemic change

Key workers were praised, along with our NHS, we clapped during Thursday dates

Restrictions had lessened somewhat in the summer, we were told to, "eat out to help out"

Track and trace was now put in place, it tracked but it failed to trace

By the end of the summer cases had spiked, the government tried to save face

Autumn came, things had changed, we were told to wear masks, social distance, adhere

But COVID deaths continued to climb, so the government created the tiers

We come to the end of this 2020 year, one of loss, difficulties, where we've coped

We woke up one day, with lessons to learn, will we listen and change, one can only hope