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For Hope

Author: Susan Gray
Year: Future

The virus comes stalking
in the grey March mist –
Hunkered in our homes
we watch its fingers spread
and hope our barricades
of toilet rolls and tins
will keep us safe.
We are self isolating,
social distancing,
banished by fear
from fellow humans,
while flickering screens
bring portents of doom
to every home.
And yet – taking a walk –
Government authorised –
I hear new lambs
bleating by the Mill,
and far away,
in a city to the west,
there is a baby’s cry –
the start of a family’s new generation
has arrived – and her name
is Hope.

For a baby girl, born March 2020,
In Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Glasgow.