March 2025 marks 5 years since our lives were turned upside down. I’d like to think we are now right side up again but on reflection, it feels more like sideways and still spinning.

We needed the NHS then, we need it now and we will need it in our times to come. My poem Coral was written to say why and joined many other words and moments in this special NHS Charities Together event.

‘_{Coral’ read by actress Sophia Myles at 11mins.}

coral

blue tac remains still stuck on the windows
nibs of discarded pens dried up 
rainbows that triumphantly adorned the road 
now only remnants of scuffed paint

like driving over ashen memories
like flashes of what once was 
like abandoned coral beds 

our NHS was home to everything 
to what seemed like everything 
living, thriving, beating, everything 

when this ends
when they leave 
when the multiplicity of life can no longer breathe, breed or be

all colour fades 
turns pale 
like ash 

as if embers could dwell in the sea 
as if elements could grieve together 
as if nothing ever happened at all 

except for time
the same time that took so much away
gives back 

the tides shift 
drawing in swells
of goodness

so the greys become pastels 
and life dares to try 
an invitation to a return of restoration