The year has been hard,

and harder still to avoid news of it;

pandemic and polemic

vying for gruesomeness.

 

I have dodged some,

by not watching,

moving that dial

when bulletins break in.

 

But still it seeps in,

sneaking round the edges

and creeping past defences,

evading studied ignorance.

 

So I have made a Christmas list,

And on it, right at the top,

is a new pair of spectacles,

rose-tinted.