You can check out a video of the author reading this poem over on the Unchained Media Scotland Facebook Page by clicking here.
Do we have to return from The Quiet?
Do we have to return to the noise?
The bustle, the rush, the loudness of life
Where everyone raises their voice?
Do we have to go back to the rat race?
Can we not just continue to chill?
It’s so peaceful and silent with clear blue skies
It’s amazing to see life so still.
The sickness has brought so much heartache
So much worry, anxiety and fear
It’s also brought calmness and silence
Take a moment, just stand still and hear.
We need to get back to how life was
We need to see loved ones and friends
But can we show love for The Quiet
Before all the quietness ends?
About the Author
I was born in Dundee but emigrated to South Africa in my childhood. I’d have to say my upbringing there had a lot of input into my views on how inequalities need to be set right now. I always had a passion for writing but never did anything about it until I did an Open University degree (while working and being a single parent). I wrote a lot of poetry at that time as well as some short stories and plays. A few poems were featured in anthologies and I had some success in a local competition with another. My poems were fuelled by sadness or hurt and when life got happier and I met someone and got married the need to write kind of hibernated. Until COVID came along. I work for the NHS, I am part of my health board’s headquarters in the Chief executive’s department and had the both frightening and fascinating privilege of being privy to all the decisions being made and ways the board was handling the insane situation we found ourselves in. So I wrote, and wrote and wrote. I’ve now written 7 lockdown poems (plus another one written tonight). These led to a few more commissioned poems for funerals, businesses and family. It’s been a tough time and I feel pretty emotional much of the time so it was a good way to vent that. I’m amazed with how well they’ve done and very pleased people find them as touching as I do when I write them.
Off the Record 