Fug
You took my breath away then,
Back then, over on an island in the med
Anxiously wondering if we would ever get home.
Police with guns, protecting the sand
From our potential lethality.
Permitted only round the hotel pool and then,
just a balcony. Bar closed. Plane home a relief.
Attuned to the perhaps plague cough
of the man in the row behind. Giving to recycled air.
If we were all going to die let it be in our own beds.
Gatwick like a film set. Abandoned.
Surreal. No duty free.
Roads so empty. Newsreaders
With a Morgan Freeman script.
The end of the world, pending.
Telly ads still promised glossy hair
And the holidays no-one would take
Did somebody say just eat?
We did. And we did.
And we noticed the birds singing.
Were the stars brighter? We wondered
We played in the empty roads
Like naughty children.
Is this clean air? We wondered.
The animals came in their two by two
And ate the plants and caused havoc
And we laughed in wonder as they too
Walked in the roads. Enjoyed the space.
Exercising the dog a chore everyone wanted.
We said hello to strangers. From a distance.
From a distance.
Two metres for life, mask and shield.
We clapped with gelled chapped, latex gloved hands.
Scoured panic pecked aisles and glared
At guarded, sanitised trolleys, Andrex laden.
And the wonder-full quiet, calm, peace
Was shattered by the tolling of the bells.
So many bells. So many bells. So many bells.
And I ached for the unconcealed smiles of a gig crush and
Breathing the fug of a crowded bar.
Lel Meleyal, (age 61), Scarborough
FebulousFebruary 2026: The Old Photograph 
Comments on: "Day two" (4)
What a brilliant choice of title’s Lel – Fug – so short but conjures up such a big full steamy atmosphere of a busy club. Great opening line ‘You took my breath away then,’ as there’s an expectation that it might be a love poem, and it’s great as it’s nearly the opposite. It’s also great I think in its poignancy, given struggling to breathe, is such a horrible symptom of Covid.
You are so good at using language economically whilst creating such powerful emotion – the fear that is communicated in the simple line ‘ If we were all going to die be in own beds.’
The Just eat reference is so spot on and your wonderful sense of humour is shining through
‘Did somebody say just eat? We did. And we did.’
I love how you conjure up so much of the common experience in sharp detail and capture a slice of our shared history… ‘We clapped with gelled chapped, latex gloved hands.’ and ” unconcealed smiles’ … So loaded and just brilliantly observed.
The tolling of bells….and repeating ‘ So many bells. So many bells. So many bells.’ is really clever as through the repeated short sentences I can hear bells, like Ding. Ding. Ding.
The longing in the last line is so powerful and sort of hopeful as whilst it hankers for something experienced in the past it directs us to the future too
Brilliant! It reads like an apocalyptic movie but wait..we’re in it
So good, evoking the surreal experiences of the first lockdown
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