Extract from a
Leaving Poem
Remember this place
in time – when all
was locked down
and you travelled
masked and ready
to face the force
complete the tasks
for a team of strangers
some of whom
would become familiar.
Remember the lunch
on the distanced bench
in hospital grounds,
breaking bread
sharing our lives
so far – your eyes
avoid contact
that first day.
Remember the women
deployed to trace
who laughed and cried
with you – who
offered motherly embrace
from the other side
of the room.
Remember the day
you told your friends
on Zoom, you’d
shed your mask
revealed your
true self.
Remember your love affair
with a Welsh Ambulance man
you called each day
to offer sugar pill support
in a genuine voice.
The rugby club
where a girl
kissed the virus
on a single night
with a symptomatic stranger.
Remember our return
when Summer faded
to a near empty space
lost behind plastic partitions
in desks once teaming
with tangible life.
Walks along the river,
Whose banks display
empty wrappers, single socks,
remnants of a time before.
Remember the weeks
of meetings on Teams
the offerings you gave
that only the young can give.
Creating a sanctuary
for those whose spirit
has been washed
too many times and
faded like an old t-shirt.
Remember yourself
as a brand new coin
dropped into
a child’s hand.
The possibilities
and hope for the future,
shine.
