Pandemic poem - the first wave

When the first e-mail came asking our skills

It was a little exciting, it didn’t feel real

We’d had a few weeks watching it all unfold

The news images had started leaving us cold

Panic buying had started already

Loo rolls and bread - c’mon people, go steady!

Mother’s Day flowers were almost on hold

Try to stay calm, be brave, be bold

Feeling like soldiers but underprepared

Frontline heroes? Totally scared

Refresher courses on IV injections

Pulling together to fight this infection

Hats, masks and visors, scrubs, gloves and gowns

For something so serious we’re looking like clowns!

Capturing moments on social media

Trying to make best of this crazy hysteria

Organised chaos in every direction

Fighting for lives, our sole intention

Patients oblivious to their surroundings

Relatives distraught at the telephoned warnings

We’re the delicate link between them and their loved ones

Sadly, not all will return to the homes that they came from

Doing all that we can to improve their chances

Outwardly calm whilst inwardly frantic

Exhausting ourselves of our fire and our grit

Emotionally drained yet fighting fit

One month in marked the saddest of times

Many losing the fight to this deadly virus

Haunting scenes in the ICU

Staff supported online via zoom

The following weeks saw better outcomes

I’m grateful for this, as last month I was broken

Over the worst? Things seem to be improving...

No longer needed, back home we are moving

Placed like pawns in a game of chess

Calculated moves, immeasurable stress

Unprecedented times calls for unprecedented action

This virus has caused a massive reaction

A global pandemic, no one is spared

If (when) it happens again, we’ll be better prepared...

Helen Hipkiss, September 2020