FORGET-ME-NOTS

Splashes of blue in the springtime green,

A braver array had never been seen.

Little blue flowers, of flowers we dreamed,

The flowers would go on forever it seemed,

Never so many forget-me-nots.

When dawn emerged the moon sank down,

And birds were heard all over the town.

The daffodils wilted, the tulips went

But still the forget-me-nots weren't spent,

Never so many forget-me-nots.

This was the year the virus came,

Raking the lungs with tongues of flame.

Doctors worked without proper gear,

None had been ordered for many a year,

Ever so many forget-me-nots.

The Earth is round, the Earth is flat,

Some say this and some say that.

Carry on, folks, go down to the pub,

But give your hands a jolly good scrub.

Ever so many forget-me-nots.

The rich went home and shut the door

And left the streets to the hungry poor.

The buses crawled in their twos and threes,

The drivers doomed by a cough or sneeze.

Ever so many forget-me-nots.

The sun still shone but stopped the clock:

Locked down, we stayed in a state of shock.

We clapped the carers and mourned the dead,

We laughed and waved to cover our dread.

Never so many forget-me-nots.

Not daffodils yellow nor tulips red:

Forget-me-nots blue remember the dead.

John Drew has lived on both sides of the Himalayas.