The Goats at London Zoo (Lock Down Week 2)
By: Jackie Hollands
About The Poem
In March 2020 I was ill with Covid-19. As I lay in bed I heard a story on the radio about the goats in the Children’s section of London Zoo. The keepers realised that the goats were missing the children who normally came to pet them. Writing this poem was partly about feeling so privileged to be getting well when so many other people had lost their lives or were seriously ill. It made me think about all the things that we had taken for granted and actually how much damage we had been doing to London and the world around us by not taking better care.
The Poem
The trees, they’re breathing free now.
For so long, gave themselves freely.
We drank and gulped them in,
never thinking to say thank you.
The trees don’t miss us.
But the goats at London Zoo, they’re waiting at the gate
For the kids of me and you.
The bluebells, getting ready to burst forth.
Can come forward without fear of grasping hands,
Without dread of tramping feet. Oh that blue, blue, blue
Never thinking to say thank you.
The bluebells don’t miss us.
But the goats at London Zoo, they’re waiting at the gate
For the kids of me and you.
The church bells, they’re ringing clearer,
singing through the cleaner air.
Chiming out for these new times,
And not caring we’re not there.
The church bells don’t miss us.
But the goats at London Zoo, they’re waiting at the gate
For the kids of me and you.
The ghost bus passes my window,
it flies, it soars, it sails along.
It’s load, so much lighter,
Just two brave nurses.
The buses don’t miss us.
But the goats at London Zoo, they’re waiting at the gate
For the kids of me and you.
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