OUR VERY LAST CHRISTMAS WITH HER

Corona Covid had just arrived
It was December Twenty Nineteen
The virus had not before been seen
At Christmas I was again with my Bonnie
Like all Christmases before bar one only
We had no inkling then that
That Christmas would be our last with Bonnie
And we would be left bereft in agony

My younger daughter Jahnavi had also arrived
Like on all previous occasions with delight
Alas , my son in law Adam was barred
Because Bonnie had fallen out , so she declared

Christmas 2019 was otherwise also notable
For an anecdote I am about to tell you with my babble
For on Christmas morning Bonnie discovered
The roasting chicken I bought was not what she desired

Bonnie had always been particularly stricken
She always preferred the Oakham chicken
Which only Marks& Spencer sell from their kitchen
I was immediately on the alert
Went  off in a whiz in my mind
Was a bell of an alarming kind

What could I possibly do on the very Christmas morning?
Where and how could I possibly get an Oakham chicken ?
Immediately I went on a Google search
Any Marks & Spencer open in our neighbourhood lurch?

Google search miserably failed to find
Any foodhall of the Marks & Spencer kind
It was after all 25 th of December
Who in their right mind would open
This is Christmas Day , you remember?

Suddenly something flashed across my mind
Isn’t there a BP petrol station of the kind
With an attached MS foodhall a few miles away
From where Bonnie lived in the Greenwich bay?

Was it possible this place might be open
Although it’s a Christmas Day after all?
The MS might also be in service with the foodhall ?
Hope sprung inside me all of a sudden
My mind raced like a whirlwind current

I jumped out of my chair
And out of the flat with a flair
Drove my car like a maniac
My car was not a Cadillac
But I got there in no time at all
For I was in my full thrall

Traffic was clear, not many cars in sight
For a late December day the weather was also bright
Would the BP station be open with foodhall inside?
That was in my mind a vexing question
As I anxiously alighted at the petrol station

Hurray! Hurray!
It’s all open even on a Christmas Day!
I could not believe my luck as always
But pondered for an anxious moment
Would I find the Oakham chicken?

I hurried into the MS Foodhall
Straight I marched to the shelves and all
I found some steak and gammon
But no where in sight was an Oakham chicken

The light in my mind
Dropped a thousand joules to a grind
All of a sudden from the disappointment
Alas, there’s no Oakham chicken!

Disheartened and downcast
Mirroring the surround outside
Like a grim weather forecast
I was about to leave the store sullen
But something seemed to tell me in a sudden
‘Hold on still tight’
‘Look further inside’

I got down flailingly on my wobbly knees
To the bottom most shelf with unease
It said’ Oakham chicken’
But none was evident

Despairing again, I was about to get up and leave
But inside me was a searing heave
I put my hand in and felt around the remotest reach
Suddenly, what was it that I felt with not a little ease
Blindly out of sight like in a deep abyss?

I pulled this thing out with some rescind
Lo and behold it was an Oakham chicken
The very last one left at that station !

It was a Christmas Day of all days
I shall remember always
Because this also was the very last Christmas
We would ever have our beloved Bonnie with us