Sunbathers on beaches in a lockdown

and a new type of offensiveness is born 

one that is inflamed by citizens doing 

what was ordinary two weeks ago 

but is now essentially criminal

and under scrutiny

some of the land's private wealth 

is revealed in the news of owners 

caught visiting their second homes

among them those extraordinary beings

who are our well-funded leaders

exhorting us mere plebeians

to stay at home protect the NHS save lives

the dual-edged maxims of governance

the mantras we do not all follow

do as I say not as I do

our two tier society

where did we lose our country?

Dunkirk is invoked for the ten thousandth time

while in Russia a medic assassinates 

five noisy neighbours

our inessential travel and inessential purchases

are sex workers on a furlough?

grim economic data arrives early

a power vacuum awaits

give me gilded horseshit

I’ll be happy with it

but won't bet on it

fear Easter when the sun shines

and we all want to come out and play

in the changed reality

the substituted stage set

the overloaded crucifixes

but fear more greatly an Easter

that doesn't rise in judgement

on its ritual structures