Poet Michael Rosen evoked haunting memories of the Covid pandemic in a moving poem to mark the fifth anniversary since the outbreak of the deadly virus.
The writer, poet, broadcaster and former children’s laureate, 78, was rushed to hospital with Covid and put into an induced coma in intensive care.
He was speaking at a gathering hosted by NHS Charities Together in Staffordshire, which was part of Sunday’s national Covid-19 Day of Reflection.
He asked the audience to join in with the words “we remember” after the lines of his newly-penned poem.
Here is the poem:
“Coughing and coughing, gasping for air.
“Empty streets, no cars anywhere.
“Curry with no flavour. Pizza with no taste.
“Empty days, time to waste.
“Running out of tests and masks.
“What is this zoom thing? Someone asks.
“How many feet are we standing apart?
“A pain in the chest, a pain in the heart.
“Children in their rooms all day?
“Will we ever get away?
“The unprotected driver of the bus.
“Nurses checking, testing us.
“Nurses wearing clinical waste bags.
“People leaving without their name tags.
“Freezing cold, then helplessly hot.
“Blood thinners and blood clots.
“The face we’ll never see again.
“A mind chasing grief and pain.
“The risks you took for working on and on.
“The fatigue and strain have never gone.
“The wards too hot in the June weather.
“Medics in teams working together.
“The endless beeps of drips and machines.
“The news they had invented a vaccine.
“Those we met, the paths we crossed.
“Those who went, those we lost.
“The lives of those who fell or faltered.
“The lives of those forever altered.”
Soprano Lesley Garrett, who performed during the ceremony, plus NHS staff, patients and volunteers and senior healthcare figures – including chief nursing officer Duncan Burton – were among those who heard the poem.
