Jeff Kemp 

East Lothian

 

I have lived in East Lothian for the past twenty five years, since settling in Scotland after working in Asia and the Middle East. 

Poem completed 4th April 2020

Eyam, 1665*

 

Greater love hath

no man, has no woman

 

than to see their village

as an island, its boundary

stones a shore

 

containing all thoughts

of escape.  Stay,

close the door.  Wait.

 

Face the plague.

Wait.  A month.  A year.

 

1666 arrives stinking

like the apocalypse

as four out of five die

 

unless it was 30%,

precision fades with age

but their decision

 

not to infect others

is brutally clear.

As courageous as 

 

now seemingly arcane

while we strain to reach

over-supplies

 

in the herd impunity

of supermarket aisles.