Gratitude in the time of the Coronavirus
This journey just started
Its destination unknown
Time to destination unknown.
Already I feel frustrated and cross
Not wanting, not accepting this change
That seems to have come so suddenly.
At the supermarket
I grab what I can
Not what I want
Just some of what I need.
Already I’m tired of the queue
Suspicious of other people
Are they infectious?Is it safe?
Rushed, I come to the self-checkout
Scanning, scanning
For a moment I pause
Tired of all this.
I remember
My mother’s story
Living in London
Throughout the Blitz
My father almost fatally wounded
In North Africa.
I remember my mother
Now long dead
Her Italian face luminous
In my memory
My father who fought
The Italians in the war
And I am their son.
The self-checkout prompts me
“Do you want to continue?”
Silently, I answer ‘Yes’.
─ Brian Tasker, 20/3/20