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.