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The Covid 19 Total Lockdown Blue

A series of verses written at different times, and in different styles, over the course of the South African COVID lockdown.

The day before

It’s 4-30 am on day minus one

And the total lock down has not yet begun,

Soon I’ll head out for the very last time

But I’m waiting for daybreak and penning this rhyme.

Twenty-one days to keep us apart,

But the word about town is that’s only the start,

So one cup of coffee, bitter not sweet

Then I’ll head down the stairs and into the street,

It’s on with my track suit and lace up my shoes,

I’m heading out, but lord

I’ve got the Covid19 total lock down blues.

Day 1

I head to the store

To get a bit more

Of things I had missed

Off my short shopping list

But when I get there

The shelves are stripped bare

By the vultures of greed

Who took what we need

To keep us fed and slake our thirst

Because they could and they got there first.

Oh well, I’ll just buy lots of booze today

To keep those Covid19 lockdown blues away.

Day 2

I’m up each day at half past four

Chewing my pen and pacing the floor,

Ninety minutes until first light

With steps to do and a verse to write,

We are finding new ways to stay in touch,

Electronic contact, I don’t mind much,

Whattsapp in groups and skype and zoom

Bring us together, right in the room.

My advice though is to stay off twitter

Full of nutjobs, angry and bitter,

And don’t spend hours sitting alone

Terror scrolling on your phone.

Play some music, call your friends

We’ll see this through until it ends.

Three weeks to go: so day by day

We’ll find new ways

To keep those COVID19 lockdown blues at bay. 

Day 3

Three days done, 18 to go

Some time moves fast and some goes slow

The virus spreads and the numbers grow,

When will this end? Hell I don’t know.

So we wash our clothes and mop the floors

Wipe down surfaces do all the chores,

Check on the elderly lady next door,

We need some fresh food so we head to the store.

One thing is for certain, We’ll remember the name,

COVID 19 is changing the game

We can say it’s the virus when nothing’s the same

But it’s the world we built that should take the blame.

Day 4

It’s late afternoon and I realise

I need to get more exercise,

So its up off the couch and out the door

Pacing the passage on the first floor

Fifty paces this way, fifty paces that

Walking past my neighbour’s lonely “welcome” mat.

How many times will give me a mile?

I guess this is going to take a while.

Ten minutes of this and I’m not breathing hard,

I head down to reception to greet the guard

Then down more steps to the basement parking

Somewhere in the distance I hear a dog barking,

It reminds me how I used to stalk

The streets outside on my morning walk.

I head up to the fifth floor, walking fast

I got my heart rate up at last.

In the thirty minutes of this stroll

Except for the guard I haven’t seen a single soul.

Back in flat number 102

I set out the plates and stir the stew

Add some spices and salt and pepper

Turn on the TV and get on the stepper

To finish my walk and watch the news again.

Bad move. Here come those COVID 19 total lockdown blues again, 

Day 10

Good morning

Did you miss me?

I’m sorry 

Didn’t mean to make you worry

Please don’t diss me.

I’m back now

Won’t be slack now

And I need a new style ‘cos

We’ve walked a rough mile

And there’s blood on the tracks now.

Leaving Dylan behind us

(Though his songs remind us

Again and again

That nothing better describes

The hard rain that befalls us

And the soft love that calls us

Than guitar and harmonica

And his slow mournful drawls)

I thought I would become

The oldest pop to twist his

Tongue through hip hop

Rhythms but I have to say 

that the bounce and sway

is making me dizzy that’s enough 

For today and time to get busy

So I’ll close on this note 

With a vote of thanks

To Dan the man who sang a song

While I was gone. Took my words and

Freed them like birds from a cage

Rearranged them and changed them

And the tune that he made should be

Heard on a stage

When history turns another page.

Day 21

Three weeks in and no end in sight,

I can see the tunnel but I can’t see the light.

I’ve food in the fridge and a little wine,

I can walk in the sun and everything’s fine

But what if you lived six in a room

Jobless and tired, like life in a tomb,

Locked up with a man who bullies and punches

And hungry children without their school lunches

Nothing to sell and no food to buy

Take a walk in the street? Don’t even try

Cause the police will beat you without asking why.

There are food riots and people are ready to fight

‘Cos they are inside a tunnel and they can’t see the light.

Each year TB kills 50 000 or more,

Don’t worry though it’s the weak and the poor

They don’t come knocking at the hospital door

And it doesn’t affect the rich and the strong

And we have lived with it for ever so long

But this new disease might get you and me

That’s very different don’t you see,

So stay in your homes and do as we say

We’re closing you down for many more days,

And those who go hungry are the weak and the poor

Locked them up in their shacks for many weeks more

I’m not going to argue, and maybe you’re right

But we’re inside a tunnel and I can’t see the light.

Day 60

SOUND AND FURY

I am tired of our anger now,

And the echo chambers of our rage,

We meet as distant strangers now

Masked and rattling at our cage.

Everything has changed it’s true,

The choices that we face are stark,

What’s coming will be harsh and new

Bitter fruit plucked in the dark.

We know the sound of war, a fist clenched tight

The taste of fighting to be free.

But now we stumble through this darkest night

Sparring with a foe we cannot see.

And so we look for villains we can name

Those useful bastards who we choose to blame.

Day 161

ENNUI AND ANOMIE

Its’s ennui and anomie

Covid19s got to me

This virus stole my life from me,

It’s month’s since we had company

Our friends a distant memory

That’s why I’m feeling ennui

It’s ennui and anomy

It’s taken our economy

Disintegrates society

Dissolving solidarity,

There’s no way out that I can see

That’s why there’s so much anomie.