Joy and knowledge

Singapore in spring

We landed in Singapore

eating skittles from a bag.

One more leg to go

before arrival in Oz.

Planning our days,

our tasty meals,

our walks on beaches,

and swims in the sea.

We were met with masked faces,

and temperature scanners

set-up to assess

the threat we posed.

Was this thing really that bad?

We landed in Sydney

with tents erected for those

arriving from China.

We spoke to our relatives

of what we had seen.

Was this thing really that bad?

A few days in and

more cases were confirmed,

the first few back in the UK too.

I visited a school down under

where an emergency meeting

was already underway

for shutting, for coping,

for teaching online.

Perhaps this thing

was that bad

after all.

We spent days in the sun,

even walking the same way

Bondi to Coogee,

as Tom Hanks on

the very same day as

he’d contracted it too.

Good job we’ll be home soon

where it’s safe.

We stopped in Singapore

to enjoy a few days.

A room upgrade for us

in a hotel without guests.

Everyone masked,

and temperatures scanned at

every

single

door.

We arrived in London,

glad to be home.

We’d anticipated quarantine,

questions and scans.

We were met instead

with a piece of paper saying,

please wash your hands.

My writing commitment: I’m learning to honour my thoughts. I’m learning that my words can be shared before I’ve connected all the dots or learned everything there is to know. My writing can be a snapshot of a single moment in continually-evolving time.

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