Angela Lanyon's Corona Verses 301-365, 19th January - 24th March 2021
Verse Number 365
24th March, 2021
A Sibyl’s warning ere I go
For there are things you ought to know,
Once you’ve given in to fear
It’s always whispering in your ear,
And for the things we all have lost
For years to come we’ll count the cost.
So if my words have you offended
Fret no more for now - they’re ended.
Goodbye.
Thank you for reading and as Dave Allen used to say: ‘ May your God go with you.’
Angela
23rd March, 2021
A year has passed, we can’t regain
The things that we have lost.
Lives and life and livelihoods
Like so much rubbish tossed,
The vaccine was to vanquish
Stagnation and decay,
So, Boris, get your finger out
And speed us on our way.
22nd March, 2021
Black lives matter
But what about the rest?
With lockdown and the wokery
Everyone’s oppressed,T
hey’ve turned us into robots
Look, but do not touch,
We miss the little things in life
That really count so much.
21st March, 2021
Masks are suck a pesky thing
I neither hear nor see,
My earrings all get caught in them,
I struggle to get free,
With voices muffled in their folds
Expressions out of sight
I wonder if I seem to them
Like they to me - a fright.
20th March, 2021
Will there be another lockdown?
The prospect is obscure,
The vaccine was the answer
Now they are not sure,
The future looked quite rosy
We planned to look ahead,
But can we really trust them
Not to change their minds instead?
19th March, 2021
Do you need to have a shade card
To determine race and sex,
A rainbow-coloured ruler
The questions are complex.
What is your religion?
C of E or Jedi Knight?
And where and how and what were you
On the Census night?
18th March, 2021
The vaccine, is it yes or no?
The EU can’t decide,
Their pointless vacillations
Cause confusion far and wide,
The purpose of this gambit
Is to prove the Brits are wrong,
But all it does is leave behind
A very nasty pong!
17th March, 2021
It’s weasel words to say that rules
The elderly protect,
Cut off from family and friends
It really is neglect,
The things that they enjoy in life,
The outings that they planned
Are rudely snatched away from them
And all their pleasures banned.
16th March, 2021
They say that lockdown ages brains,
I’ll go along with that,
My concentration's gone to pot
I don’t know where I’m at,
I wonder if there’s value
In anything I do
And if life’s worth the effort -
Do you feel like that too?
15th March, 2021
The rainbow was a sign of hope
I wish that it were true,
Now it’s just another hoop
For us to struggle through,
It means so many different things
On who you are, where from,
And, dear me, if you get it wrong
It goes off like a bomb.
14th March, 2021
The game is afoot,
So follow that virus
Tracking and tracing
Are there to inspire us,
We’re chasing up variants
As quick as we can,
To catch them and stop them
Is part of the plan.
13th March, 2021
My emotions now have atrophied
I find I do not care,
My horizons are so shrunken
That I only feel what’s there,
My orbit is decreasing
I wonder what I’m for,
A flash and I’ve vanished
Like a burnt up meteor.
12th March, 2021
Did it work or did it not
The magic mantra, test and trace?
It should have spotted local hot spots,
Kept the virus in its place,
The follow-up was sometimes late
And some impossible to track,
It cost a hideous lot of cash.
Please can we have our money back?
11th March, 2021
Now we’ve had the vaccine
Can’t you let us out?
It’s cruel to keep us shut away
When we could be about,
You’re going by the data,
But is the data true,
It all depends on who you are
And what’s your point of view.
10th March, 2021
What’s a lateral flow test,
Is it something for the drain,
Or is it for the children
Now they’re at school again?
With every new instruction
Confusion becomes worse,
At least it gives me something
On which to hang a verse.
9th March, 2021
A very nice attempt, my dear,
But do stop fiddling with your hair,
You look too like a waif and stray
In need of social care,
Your pauses for effect are cute,
Your flattened voice a bore,
Your finger flicking drama
Was unconvincing to the core.
8th March, 2021
They’re going to ease the lockdown,
Hang on, don’t hold your breath,
A visit to a care home
Could still be the kiss of death.
Wrapped in layers of plastic
You can hold somebody’s hand,
No kissing and no hugging....
I hope they understand.
7th March, 2021
The daily grind, a simple task
Is easier without a mask,
And quicker things you will achieve
If you’re not struggling to breathe.
Children going back to school
Will both these things discover
And lots of other things besides
When working under cover.
6th March, 2021
How long, how long, oh Lord, how long,
Before we hug our friends again?
We try to keep our pecker up
But we’re flagging with the strain,
We’re tired of being stuck at home,
We’re sick to the back teeth,
We may seem acquiescent
But we’re seething underneath.
5th March, 2021
Look at all the figures
Count the cost we have to pay,
A double ended tax rise
Is looming on the way,
They will not raise the dues on booze
Because of what they make.
To drink at home increases
The taxes that they take.
4th March, 2021
It’s fun to have a ringside seat
At someone else’s fight,
It makes a change of focus
To wonder who is right.
I think I see, behind the words
An ego that’s been scorned,
Hell hath no fury, someone said,
Look out! You have been warned.
3rd March, 20221
Here we go round the mulberry bush,
It’s briefing time again,
Turn the telly on and see
The fun in Number Ten,
Protect the NHS, save lives,
The danger is not passed,
If I were you, I’d turn it off,
Until the Met's forecast.
2nd March, 2021
It’s hunt the virus time again,
A traveller got away,
They lost him at the airport
And now he’s gone astray.
The virus has mutated
It’s a thing that virus do,
We’re testing everything in sight
And may get round to you.
1st March, 2021
To mask or not to mask,
The question still remains,
To cut the flow of oxygen,
Could it affect our brains?
Poke test stick up your nose,
Close your eyes and count to ten,
It will answer all your worries,
"Have I got the virus then?"
28th February, 2021
Social distancing is divisive,
Sadly that’s the way it goes,
You may not reach a helping hand out,
Turn your head and mask your nose,
Stranger danger, keep two metres,
The Good Samaritan denied,
He who gets the Brownie points
Has walked past on the other side.
27th February, 2021
When shall we three meet again?
That’s the leading question,
A coven cannot be convened,
I’m open to suggestion.
Take your cauldron in the park
And have your picnic there,
I grow more witch-like every day
With long and straggly hair.
26th February, 2021
Do not cheek your teacher
Or you’ll get a lower grade,
It’s a very sad reflection
But it’s how the world is made,
With a mask across my face
My feelings are concealed,
It’s just as well for underneath
My brains have now congealed.
25th February, 2021
Will I need a vaccine passport
To go and have a drink?
A signed and stamped certificate,
It really makes you think,
Freedoms with the left hand
Are snatched back by the right,
Cross your fingers, hold your breath
And hope the end's in sight.
24th February, 2021
Pestilential experts
Like swarms of biting flies,
"We’re going by the data
And data never lies."
Is it really possible
That some time, very soon,
We shall be free of all this gunge,
Roll on the end of June
23rd February, 2021
The window's open just a chink,
They’ve not unlocked the door,
For many lonely people
It’s as you were before,
The glow you see ahead of you
Gleaming through the fog,
Is only phantom dancers
Flickering on the bog.
22nd February, 2021
We’re going on a journey,
I’ve got a road map here,
With roundabouts and road works
I’ve made it very clear,
The slip road from each junction
Takes you where you were before,
Spaghetti junction with a twist,
But there’s no Exit door.
21st February, 2021
Don’t be rude to Granny,
It’s not the thing to do,
She holds all the aces
And could disinherit you.
She’ll sacrifice the family
To keep the firm intact,
It’s a pity that you can’t accept
This very basic fact.
20th Febraury, 2021
My horizons have been narrowed,
My thoughts are all turned in,
For what we do not care about
Compassion has worn thin,
They get a robot onto Mars,
Yet park benches are ‘no go’,
But where is all our common sense
I’d really like to know?
19th February, 2021
Free association,
Freedom in our speech,
Things we took for granted
No longer in our reach,
Instagram is censored
We cannot meet our friends
I wish someone would tell me
When all this misery ends.
18th February, 2021
Goal posts on the move again?
Don’t fret, they’re not bewitched,
It’s just that all the hopeful plans
Have once again been ditched.
Education's vital
But I wonder who decides
To open schools on March the eighth
And close them on the Ides.
17th February, 2021
Boris wants to set us free,
I wonder if that’s true?
It all depends on where you are
And what's your point of view,
"We must be very cautious
And save the NHS,
We need to get the R rate down
To minus one or less."
16th February, 2021
Now the vaccines are rolled out
We should be feeling brighter
But that is really difficult
When rules are getting tighter,
Tourists are shut in hotels,
They have to quarantine,
To make them pay for punishment
Seems a trifle mean.
15th February, 2021
Playgrounds are not meant for playing
And pubs are not for drinking,
The Government has lots of heads
Whose brains are not for thinking,
Edicts rattle from on high
Like hailstones in a storm,
More restrictions, dire predictions,
To frighten not inform.
14th February, 2021
An interesting word is "woke"
It rhymes with bloke and soak and folk,
It covers all things like a cloak,
It also rhymes with artichoke.
A raven's cry is called a croak,
And pigs are purchased in a poke,
Comedians sign off with a joke,
Will someone tell me what is woke?
13th February, 2021
Social distance is too close
To have a snowball fight,
It needs to be three times as much
To get the throwing right,
I think I warned you, long ago,
The dangers we were in,
We’re flirting with insanity
Now snowmen are a sin.
12th February, 2021
All of us are aging
And soon it will be true
That we’ll be telling children
Of things we used to do,
We went abroad to find the sun
Had friends back home for tea,
The little things we used to do
In days when we were free.
11th February, 2021
I find a little anger
Helps keep me on my toes,
I’m coming up to boiling point
As my frustration grows,
My only life just leaks away
Now we’re kept fast indoors
It soon will be twelve months ago
Since life was stuck on pause.
10th February, 2021
Rumours fly in each direction,
Take your pick from the selection,
Will the virus work, or not?
Is it part of some dire plot?
We’ve reached a stage when we don’t know
Where to turn or where to go,
What’s forbidden, what’s allowed
“Rhubarb, rhubarb,” cried the crowd.
9th February, 2021
Ifs and mights and maybes
Come down like autumn leaves,
I wonder who takes note of them
If any one believes?
We’re going to have a road map
We’re going to fix a date,
But will it be before you’re dead,
Please, don’t speculate.
8th February, 2021
The body’s largest organ
Is the outer layer of skin,
It lets you know you’re comfortable
Or a draught you’re sitting in,
The sense of touch is vital
To stroke, to hug, to hold,
Deprived of this, I realise,
That I have now grown old.
7th February, 2021
Some further contradictions
Are they set out to confuse?
How can the pubs be open
If they're not selling booze?
They fear for social distancing
When we’ve had a pint or two,
You must not touch another
Whatever else you do.
6th February, 2021
I cannot find the things to say
That I’ve not said before,
We’re going round in circles
Not steering for the shore,
It’s time to get things moving
And someone should decide
It’s time to get their finger out and see
Some common sense applied.
5th February, 2021
Sage has moved the goal posts,
It’s a weekly enterprise,
It helps to keep us on our toes
And covers up their lies,
It’s both or either with vaccines,
They must protect their backs
In case the test and trace goes bust
And runs right off the tracks.
4th February, 2021
Another twitching panic,
Another cry, Beware!
All of you must stay at home
And take a lot more care.
There’s another variation
From Africa or Kent,
We’re testing everyone in sight
To trace the way it went.
3rd February, 2021
If people don’t earn money
Then people can’t pay tax,
It’s a very obvious statement
When you look at all the facts,
So get the children back to school
Acquiring useful skills,
Set free their creativity
"There's gold in them there hills."
2nd February, 2021
I’ve turned into a zombie,
I’m like a children’s train,
I’m going round in circles,
Then round about again,
I’m dreaming, going nowhere
And letting time drift by,
I feel I should be busy
But can’t think of a reason why.
1st February, 2021
I never thought the EU
Was a very bright idea,
Too many different nations
To make their wishes clear,
A hodge podge of diversity,
A mix and match job lot,
They got their knickers in a twist
And then they lost the plot.
31st January, 2021
There’s talk of devolution
The Scots will have their say,
They want their independence,
Well, that is what they say,
The wicked witch has spoken
Her scorn she does not spare,
But what I really want to know is
Whoever does her hair?
30th January, 2021
The rainbow's an illusion
That everybody sees,
It arches over houses
It arches over trees,
A sign of hope, of happiness,
A stripe of coloured air,
But the rainbow's an illusion
It isn’t really there.
29th January, 2021
I know where I’m going,
I wish that it were true,
They’re going to have a road map
Which will give us all a clue,
They’ll review the situation
In Feb or March, maybe,
The children will go back to school....
Well, we’ll just wait and see.
28th January, 2021
Another hope, another lie,
Another promise made to break,
Another fake date dangled
As a bait for us to take.
They bleat about the children,
They wail for those who die,
Another great performance,
Another whopping lie.
27th January, 2021
A theme with variations
Is what this virus is,
It should be set to music
Or made into a quiz,
Tick the box that is the nearest
To the final ending date...
Is it four, or five or six,
Or is it even eight?
26th January, 2021
A plague on both your houses
Who’d break a loving heart,
Dividing us from families,
Keeping friends apart,
But nature has the upper hand
And what you sow today
Will come back, for he who calls the tune
Will the piper have to pay.
25th January, 2021
You thought that with the vaccine
You’d once again be free
But they’ve found another reason
To restrict your liberty,
“There is a long, hard road to go
Before things are improved,
”But by the time we get there
The goal posts will have moved.
24th January, 2021
Will the vaccine work or not?
It’s like a home delivery slot,
This year, next year, sometime, never,
Six weeks, twelve weeks, or whenever,
What you see is what you’ve got
Or has the Government lost the plot?
Whatever else, please, don’t be fools,
Stay at home and keep the rules.
23rd January, 2021
“We stayed in the house and did nothing,
”That’s the story of our lives,
We don’t need Dr. Seuss
To know that laziness survives
I used to have a diary
Crammed with things to do,
Now it’s empty pages
As each week comes into view.
22nd January, 2021
Little Meghan wrote a note
And then she went and lost it.
Did she share it with her friends
Ere in the post she tossed it?
“My privacy is paramount,
My feelings very real,
I’ll share them on the media
And all my pain reveal.”
21st January, 2021
One in ten has had the virus
Which means that nine of us have not,
An optimistic statement
The ministers forgot,
They never give the figures
Of those who didn’t die -
I suppose there is a reason
But you have to wonder why.
20th January, 2021
Responding to the circumstance
Is a very useful ploy
To cover all the U turns
We currently enjoy,
Because you’ve had the vaccine,
Don’t think that you are free,
Many moons will pass before
You’re set at liberty.
19th January, 2021
Experts go to experts
To titivate their hair,
The rest of us go shaggy
Like an hibernating bear,
They stand up at the lectern
Immaculately groomed
Just to prove to all the plebs
They’re absolutely doomed.
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