Once upon a Covid

By: Aikaterini Petridou

About The Poem

I have been living in London for 5 years and during the pandemic I lost my main job and I was not allowed to go back to the country I, originally, am from. I love fairy tales, so I tried to stay positive and think of their optimistic endings. Inspired by them, I wrote down some characters that have faced a lockdown situation and related their experiences to ours. They say that these characters live in us, anyway, because we grow up with them. Finally, I believe we can learn from everything and the lockdown has taught me that happiness can be found in simple things like the ones I mention at the end of the song and I am grateful for that.

The Poem

Locked in a tower
No stairs or door
Only one window
the world to explore.

Rapunzel, Rapunzel
Go wash your hair
We are staying indoors,
but do not despair

People in need
when you go help,
break away from the wolf
or let out a yelp.

-Big hands you have there.
-The better to hug you with, Red.
-No touching, no cuddling.
Social distancing I said!

Banished in the house
Not allowed to the Ball
Wash the ashes off your hands
We’re in it together all

A shoe can change your life, Cindy
Online shopping is not windy

You need to be safe
So stay inside
Far from poisonous apples
The other day you almost died

Mirror, mirror on the wall
I, Snow, will follow the protocol

Run out of flour
But the house is all bread
Trapped between candies
Push the witch in the oven instead

-Show us how. Show us how.
-Gretel, when H. says “now”.

We can cook, we can sing, we can talk to birds
We can clean, we can bake, we can help our friends
Away from witches, the wolf and the queen,
the step mother and sisters in our quarantine
Of being safe we are desirous
Stay away from the coronavirus

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