MODERN PLAGUE

Swings hang silent and discarded, The flying fox has had its wings clipped, We have become repelling magnets, Zigzagging away from each other, When we really want to meet, Teddy bears with down-turned mouths Are meant to emit cheer,

Yet they sit, noses glued to the glass, “Let us out!” they seem to say. Expressions are lost in white shelled masks, Hands are washed like Lady Macbeth’s, The news compulsive but apocalyptic, Jobs and lives so sadly lost, Freedom’s gone,

But the world is healing, While we stay safe in our translucent bubbles. JO SILVEY

Rolleston, NZ