'A poem for my daughter'

Tuesday 28 April 2020

A number of poems have been submitted, with people rising to a challenge set by businessman Dave Beausire who has penned his own during the lockdown.

Today we have a poem written by David Rowlinson.

Mr Rowlinson, who lives in Guernsey with his wife Claire, penned these thoughts in tribute to his daughter, Jenny, who is working for the NHS on the corona virus frontline in the UK.

Social Distancing.

A strange thing to contemplate

Distancing our present fate.

Is it right, twitters ask

As governments are brought to task

Front line staff are rightly lauded

And Thursday eve roundly applauded.

Brought together, our communities

Though from afar we miss our families

Social media will send a joke

We like the ones that ain’t so woke

The biggest of all is that man Trump

The free world leader such a chump

For meetings etc., FaceTime and Zoom

To lift us all from daily gloom

New recipes for our daily bread

Novices like me are filled with dread

Our gardens never looked so good

All borders clear where weeds once stood

Empathy for those with little space

Stuck inside, no sun on their face

And with those far less well off

Especially those still sleeping rough

Jobs are lost and businesses suffer

You wonder can it be much tougher

Far too many, wrong side of the dice

Have paid the ultimate sacrifice

Yet in places there are things to like

As we hope at last we’ve reached the spike

For now, we can hear the birdsong

As spring new born join the throng

The climate appears to be improving

Please oh please let’s keep that moving

How will it be when this is done

Sometime yet before the fun

But one day soon approaching steadily

We will resume with friends and family

And hopefully, on that day in December

We will spare a moment and remember

That having survived all that strife

The most important things in life.

David Rowlinson, 2020. For my daughter Jenny, working frontline with the NHS.

To submit your poem, readers' letter or other musings please email editor@bailiwickexpress.com

Pictured top: David Rowlinson, with his wife and daughter.