He's dog-tired

in the doghouse

dogged by 6 weeks of restrictions

and daily Coronavirus updates

feels like he's been sold a pup

by the dog in a manger democratic process

and is sad that Dave Greenfield 

and Florian Schneider have died

his world will be quieter 

and less amazing without their input

he tries to order fence paint online

but doesn’t have much luck

and does not want to pay

the profiteers’ prices

so he ekes out the battleship grey

in keeping with the times

there's a bank holiday coming up

VE Day 75 celebrations with no crowds

with hardly any humans apart

from socially distant singers

aren't they anyway?

at least Nigel Farage Mark Francois 

Steve Baker and their ilk appear 

to have been switched off

or muted or worse

surprising that they seem to be

invisible now that true statesmanship

is what is desperately required

but then they are not alone

thank God there are endless TV repeats

of extended highlights of football games

of forty year vintage

nostalgia the default reaction

to a national disaster

to any uneasy reality

an escape from the horror

that the Government could not govern

a restlessness is everywhere

an almost suppressed electricity

sparking around garden gates and cars

that have not been started for some time

and we begin to realise how 

close to animals we actually are

the sun is shining

the beaches and hills are calling

and alcohol sales soaring

the pent-up energy of Spring

with a capstone on it