Poorly With Covid – Poem

A year ago I got my first bout of Covid and I hated it. Weirdly, almost exactly a year later I contracted it again. I was hoping to say it was less impactful the second time around but in truth it totally wiped me out. Here is my brief poem about this irony, entitled ‘Poorly With Covid.’

Last March I was poorly with Covid,

I gradually pushed it away.

Last week it sneaked up upon me,

With a cough and a sneaze on Friday.

Last time you made me feel awful,

Like a horrible flu you consumed.

This week you wiped me out altogether,

And the horrible headaches resumed.

I am surprised it was so bad this time round,

Though my last jab was in 2021.

Mind you, I don’t know what’s expected,

It was never gonna be that much fun.

So, yes, Covid still has a presence,

It’s spreading again in the spring.

But give me a break until next March at least

Or they’ll be calling me THE COVID KING.

————————————————————-

Final Thoughts

This was slightly different to my usual style as I don’t normally write such long lines when I rhyme. I just woke up and wrote it but hopefully it made sense. There is something cathartic about writing a poem straight out, without overthinking it or endless editing. That is the way that I prefer to write.

Thank you for taking the time to read my short poem about Covid. Please check out my World Without Ice Poem. Perhaps also follow my blog for future similar content.

What Having Covid Is Like

As this is my first time having Covid, I wanted to document it so that people can have an understanding of how having covid feels. Clearly many people have experienced it in lots of different ways and I do not represent everyone but this is my personal reflection on the last few days.

How did I know I had Covid?

That sounds like a weird thing to say but it happens to be the case that lateral flow tests are less readily available than before. My work requires me to test every Wednesday and Sunday and I still had a set of the free tests left last week.

Despite testing negative on Wednesday, I woke up at 4am on Friday with a feeling of razor blades in my throat. As the morning progressed, I realised that this agonising sore throat was not defeated by paracetamol and my head began to ache. So I took another test and discovered a clear red line outlining my positive status.

Was I vaccinated?

I had my vaccines in April and June, followed by a booster jab in December. When having these vaccines I didn’t really suffer apart from a headache the first time and the same having the booster.

Can having Covid affect your sleep?

Whilst having Covid has been a lot less extreme than it would no doubt have been if I hadn’t had a vaccine, it has still been quite painful. The one thing that has really upset me is my sleep routine being disrupted. From the moment I woke with that scratchy throat, my sleep pattern has been completely overhauled.

The combination of muscle aches, blocked (and often runny) nose, sore throat and a weird cough has made it incredibly difficult to sleep soundly. I wonder if any of you have had the same or similar experience. For me, the lack of sleep has been by far the worst aspect of suffering from covid.

Is having covid like a cold?

Well for me there are some similarities. The runny nose for instance and bouts of sneezing. However, the sore throat that I have had for the past five days has been constant and hard to numb. Similarly, my cough has been quite harsh, causing my intercostal muscles to ache from the force involved in each dramatic cough.

Another thing I have noticed is that when I move about for a while, as I breathe faster my breaths are fairly shallow. It is like there is a tight rubber band around the very top of my lungs and when I need to inhale deeply it won’t let me.

Which day of having covid is the worst?

That is a tricky one and right now I still have all of the symptoms but I can say that the sore throat has finally eased a bit. On reflection the worst of the symptoms didn’t start until the third day of the infection. When the cough set in, I became extremely tired and achy. Even today, I fell asleep unexpectedly while in the middle of writing this post.

Having Covid has changed me.

I admit I was worried about Covid initially but lately I had begun to relax about it and assumed for a fully vaccinated person it would be just like a mild cold. I was so wrong! It has definitely knocked the wind out of my sails. Having Covid feels like a really annoying flu which makes you sleepless and uncomfortable and sweaty.

Please consider having the Covid vaccination if you haven’t already. For more detailed information about Covid please refer to the UK Covid guidance website. Thank you for reading about my experience of what it really feels like to have Covid.

Covid, Covid, Go Away – Poem

Covid, covid, go away!

Don’t come again another day.

You’re doing my head in

With your constant aching.

My nose is always running,

At night I keep on waking.

As for my throat, you make me sore,

Never felt like this before.

I didn’t think Covid would hurt me much,

But seems that I was wrong, as such.

After two years avoiding you,

You came to get me, got me in a stew.

So Covid, covid go away!

You really hack me off today!

This is a poem I wrote just now in response to two sleepless nights since I began feeling the symptoms of Covid. For another of my little poems check out We need a world. I am going back to bed to not sleep.