When the Covid lockdown was imposed in 2020, Bob Ward, having had his boyhood shaped by WWII, foresaw that this would have profound effects upon community life. As an elderly man living in a rural town, there was little he could do, but he felt that this was a time to bear witness to the challenges, from the mundane to the heart-rending. By way of making a commitment to being open to whatever the experience might bring, he began to write short verses, often several on one day. He kept this up for ten weeks to create a mosaic about life under siege by an invisible force. The outcome was not simply a collection of poems, but an historical record to be set alongside other accounts of a period in our country’s life which brought significant social change. By publishing this book, the author seeks to honour all those who succumbed during the pandemic, and also those who accepted the risks of trying to save them.
