Family in Lock Down

01/11/2020 -  Poem a Day



I listen to those people

Who bemoan the fact

They haven’t seen their family

In months and months and months

Because of a global pandemic

And I am jealous of them

Having someone to miss

When my family are so disparate

And have been for so long

That missing them is nothing new

And I feel no pull to see them

Like other people seem to do.



I listen to those people

Who can’t be without

Being in the same physical location

As their family members

For a few short months

Just because they’ve been told

They can’t cross a border

Even though they haven’t

Crossed the same border

In any of the many months prior

And I don’t understand

What’s changed so much.



I listen to those people

Who would rush to see

The family they love

With all their hearts

Despite the risk it poses

To not only themselves

But to the ones they love

By passing on a virus

They don’t even know they have

All for the sake of seeing

Their family in the flesh

Instead of on a video call.



I listen to those people

And I wonder what it’s like

To have that sort of connection

With family members living far afield

When I don’t even feel compelled

To leave the house most days

Except to go to work

Because it pays the bills

And puts food on the table,

Yet others can’t wait

To set foot out the door

And see other people.