The Wave

This week, on the first anniversary of the UK’s first lockdown, UNITElive is featuring some of the top stories we have covered on the pandemic and our members’ contributions, concerns and achievements.

Here, we look back at poet Beaky’s reflections on lockdown back in May.

The Wave

From the window in my kitchen

I see the field.

In the early evening sky

Where the golden light above the greenwood glows

and the long grass of the fallow field is gently blown

by the warm Springtime’s breath,

As in a field full of wishes,

There she sits.

She sits for hours in the stillness of the land.

And I watch her stillness from the sill of my window.

She waves.

I wave back.

And in that wave we are joined by a rainbow bridge of

Kindness.                                                                                                           

Nowadays, on a Thursday night

stand we all together,

upon our doorsteps, our driveways, by front gates,

Clapping, cheering, shouting, whooping,

Pans a-clattering, fireworks shooting – all

for the kindness of carers, health workers, bus drivers.

Opposite stands a little girl in a pink and white dress,

hair in bunches,

clutching at her daddy’s leg as if she could never let him go.

She waves.

I wave back.

And in that wave we are inspired.

We are community

We care for each other

We are swimmers in an ocean of waves

We are joined by a rainbow bridge of

Kindness.

I have to stay home now

I have to stay safe, can’t go out.

But the world still goes on around me,

in my enclosure.

I can see the woman running, puffing, down the road,

The older couple marching apace to stay fit.

The Tesco delivery man parks up with goodies for those

lucky to get a slot.

People talking, people walking,

People missing others they love, but cannot see

Cannot hold or hug or comfort them.

And there she is

The neighbour who’s lived here longer than I

The neighbour I’d never met before.

She’s coming down the path to ask if I need anything.

‘Not today thanks Marie’, I shout from the window.

And I wave at her

And she waves back.

It’s evening now

And the sitter in the field has returned

As has the golden glow in the sky beyond the greenwood.

And then she waves at me, and through me,

Waving at the little girl, waving at Marie,

Waving at all of us who have ever waved

All of us who have ever cared

All of us

joined by a rainbow bridge of

Kindness.

By Beaky – a Unite activist and occasional poet

YOU’RE NOT ALONE – Unite can help