half-dead they do linger

machines tinkle and purr

medics swathed in plastic

distressed humans a-stir

beneath ICU wards and

amid odd cavities galore

smaller fauna breathes

distant the muffled roar

who considers the mice?

they live in hospital too

a big enough challenge

without this virus stew

if you listened carefully

on dozing wards at night

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Giant girders bent and burnt and

Crushed fire engines daunt the

Halls of the museum at Albany N.Y. the

Monumental fossils of

9/11 but what will be the

Bones of war with small fry that

Flew poker-faced into the side of our souls?

After the cover-ups and cock-ups and shifty politics and

Constructive euthanasia and

Plastic heroes what

Glorious moraine can grinding folly ...

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She died in a

Care home before the

Pandemic, from

Complications after a broken hip.

She helped see off Hitler but

If granny had lived

Would she have

Seen off the virus?

During the War she worked in munitions

Her factory got bombed, she

Made ammunition for the boys at the

Front.

In the care home both her

War-time comrades

Choked to death for want of testing...

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You didn't argue with him

Registrars quailed and more than one

Seasoned sister had fled in tears while

He was loaded, a

Private practice financing

Mansion, country cottage, horses, boat

All the trappings

A pretty if fading wife who'd put up

With a lot.

He was in his prime.

Then that bloody virus hit and he was

King no more

Elective surgery on hold

The normal ...

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Did old Polly really drop her

Mentholated into my pram or

Was I too young to remember?

If so, why the link with Farley's rusks?

Later, one student summer

At the discount store in the market

I nicked a gross of tins and

It took three weeks to flush away the contents

Without my mother knowing and

One night I gave it a go and sneezed like a trooper yet

It did the trick f...

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