In Easter Week, how is this possible?
Only the seagulls strut on Coogee Beach.
My villanelle is sounding like a knell.
NO ACCESS signs along the promenade,
A climbing frame without a single child –
In Easter Week, how is this possible?
A man leans out his beachfront window,
The surf breaks on the yellow sand below.
My villanelle is sounding like a knell.
No mermaids singing each to each,
Only the seagulls strut on Coogee Beach.
In Easter Week, how is this possible?
We walk, sidestepping other people,
All sharing an unspoken fear.
In Easter Week, how is this possible?
My villanelle is sounding like a knell.
– PJN 7.4.2020
