Goodbye 2021

Goodbye, dear 2021 –

the time is near that we must part.

Though some declare you weren’t much fun,

there were ways you warmed my heart.

It’s true I was a trifle lonely

early on – but that was not

the COVID isolation only,

but being without a live-in cat.

Then, in March, sweet Poppi came

to save me from my cat-less state.

I needed a feline, she a home.

‘A match made in Heaven,’ says our vet.

I couldn’t travel far from home

to visit family interstate,

but there were Jitsi, FaceTime, Zoom.

No hugs, but at least sound and sight.

I didn’t find the rules too hard –

the masks, the check-ins, social distance –

but met with friends as best we could,

in ways that risked no plaguey mischance.

In truth, I’m something of a hermit,

welcoming lots of time alone.

Therefore I rarely sought a permit

to border cross outside my zone.

I learned a different way to shop:

deliverance by delivery!

Now I’m never going to stop

receiving goods this easy way.

The cinema I can live without.

I’ve got my big-screen smart TV.

There’s little need for going out;

my entertainment comes to me.

Staying in jim-jams all day long

is guilt-free now we all do that.

And comfort eating seems less wrong

when everyone is getting fat.

No hugs, though, 2021!

I’ll stand back here and wave at you –

then turn to meet the new unknown.

What kind are you, 2022?

Created for Friday Writings #7 at Poets and Storytellers United, where Magaly invites us to write a 'Dear 2021' open letter, in verse or prose.