feeling (for life)

^{in the dull canal
On a winter evening round behind the gashouse}

~

what joy

there is a medalist
in the water
at the olympic games

they are timely
these games
of twenty twenty-one

put off
for a year

held –
as though aloof –
amid wave
upon wave
of sickness

they have arrived
just as the poor
wretches
to the north of us
need persuasion
to stay at home

lock-down
has struck
our neighbour
north
and they are struggling
to cope

used
to their freedoms
are the new
south welsh

sport
is acting as opiate
and the masses
are imbibing

and so
am I

sound and movement

speed
and skill

a suggestion
of life
when
all of the world
feels dead

~