One year on

 

Reflecting on a year of COVID restrictions in Scotland

Remembering 

the wave of disbelief

and the stunned silence

The grief 

and lament

The resignation

and helplessness

The shock of furlough

- surplus to requirement

in an institution

focused on survival

Remembering 

the mounting fear

as death tolls rose

The longing to be able to do more

than make a difference

by staying home

and the low grade anxiety

that began low in the belly on waking

and lodged in the throat on sleeping

Remembering 

the deniers

and the conspiracists

the pontificators

and the optimists

all of whom made the work of  scientists 

and out of their depth governments

all the more difficult

Remembering

the hope snatched away

by a second wave

crushing already beleaguered services

affecting a less compliant populous 

being rekindled

by the whisper

of vaccine potential 

into a hope reborn 

Oh to share the indictment of Maya Angelou

“When we know better, we do better”

Sadly, I wonder...

What have we learned?

And will our learning make any difference?

Will it make a difference 

to the marginalised

to those on the edges

to “the least of these” 

whom we are called to love and to serve?

Or, as is often the way,

Will those in power

tell the story

through rose tinted glasses

of a nation that fought

and won the fight

papering over the cracks

of dissension and division

of incompetence and pride

ignoring the long shadows that remain

trumpeting resilience 

and “building back better”

as the tools with which to move forward?

Remembering...

And sitting with the grief

so that the loss and sacrifice

of so many

and the ongoing trauma and suffering

is not swept aside

as we move forward

but is carefully woven 

into the fabric

of our communities

not only as dark threads

but also as bright and vivid streaks

startling reminders

held aloft

carried with us

into the compassionate future

that we craft together.