Sonnet-19
When I consider how I’ll pay my rent,
stuck all my days indoors and in my pride
without a talent now identified
as being essential by the government
to serve therewith my people, and resent
my uselessness, while others turn the tide;
“Would it really be so bad to go outside?”
I fondly ask. But patients, to prevent
That murmur, soon reply, “We must succeed
in slowing infections. Let the NHS
workers treat us; they serve us best. This state
is dormant: thousands at its bidding need
to homeschool, tend the garden, get some rest;
they also serve who only stand and wait.”
(with apologies to John Milton)
Tony Williams lives in rural Northumberland. His most recent book is Hawthorn City (Salt).
Splendid,
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