By Anonymous

Hailed an auspicious year at first, who knew

Extended gloom and heartache would befall,

Reducing all things as the days swept through,

Enshrouding thousands in their deadly shawl?

–

This world, by human lives, is linked, bound tight,

Whose varied threads criss-cross the sapphire sphere,

Enabling talk and trade, but also blight

New-found to spark and spread this fateful year.

The plague ignored our man-made boundaries,

Yet triggered bubbling fault-lines deep as seas

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The poor sank low, and age-old wounds dehisced,

Whilst leaders floundered round in childish games,

Evading such a length’ning problem list,

Not least our globe that groans in fumes and flames.

This year, like glass, has magnified our ills,

Yet clouded and upheld our stubborn wills.

–

Let’s fix our vision with hope and goodwill;

In true repentance, let’s our faults dispose,

Else this year’s ghost shall trail and haunt us still,

Shadowing us beyond December’s close.