Last year a virus entered our lives

One year later here am I,

Watching my adolescence say bye

And having to turn in a work that rhymes

This pandemic brought a disease

That it doesn´t only make you sneeze

You don´t want to wear a mask while shopping

Now someone is in a casket from you coughing

Some people said "It will be fine"

"It´s only temporary"

I´ve been one year on-line

But i guess it´s better than in a cemetery

Another quarentine

To force social distancing

Someone get me some Thorazine

Because this way of life has become sickening

Feeling anxious and tired

Like I´ve already got hired

I keep missing the old days

But we must remain hopeful, always

We shall remain strong

It doesn´t matter for how long

Our mind needs to be taken care of

Let´s set them free like a flying dove

You should start exercising

Take a walk or read a book

That will be very moralizing

More than opening Outlook

And in the end remember

That we are the lucky ones

Because while you had a great month of December

Others have lost their sons

Together we will persevere

We ll stay responsible

And since nothing is never unsolvable

We might look back and think " It ended up being a great year"

Everyone now has a disinfectant and a mask,

Forced to stay inside indefinitely.
If to leave we desire to ask,
It's for the benefit of the community.

Little has changed between now and then,
The same habits over and over again.
It starts to affect your brain
Considering the end: When?

As an introvert, staying at home is no big deal,
I have always something to do.
The idea of time running short is real,
I will simply never finish my queue.

Books have revived my lifestyle,
From Kishore Mahbubani to George Orwell.
Reading international books is now worthwhile,
Entire lifetimes could be summarized in a nutshell.

In German, I can read and speak

As long as they don't speak too fast.
These people don't really talk with such speed
And the vocabulary is diverse and vast.

With my parents, I spoke a great amount
And we've got to know each other.
More often than not we take into account
The desires and needs of another's.

Routines I tried desperately to keep
Although sometimes my work was cut short.
From productivity to the schedule of sleep,
Sometimes I had the urge to abort.

This has been so far my quarantine,
Nothing out of the realm of the ordinary.
I'm now close to turning eighteen,
Let's see what the future will carry.

                                                                     Afonso Simões 12º2

Pandemic crashed our lives,

And turned everything upside down.

Not everyone survives,

And countries go to lockdown.

Some people are lonely,

Other have lost their jobs.

All we want is not to be lonely,

And beat the odds.

How I wish we could go back,

And hug the ones we love again.

Now it feels like a flashback

In our memory we try to retain.

Hospitals become overcrowded,

Health professionals are exhausted.

If our eyes aren't clouded,

We know these people should be recorded.

I want my freedom,

I want to be masks free.

This won't last just one season,

And we are stuck on how it would be.

If only we didn´t have to be afraid

Of the virus that is on the loose.

It feels like we are being played

In a game we can only lose.

                                                                      Margarida Guerreiro 12º2

I look out the window,

alone in my bedroom.

Everything is empty and calm.

Everything should be fine, I presume!

But it's not all right!

Everyday thousands of people die.

I keep watching the news on TV

And I only hear discouragement and cry

It seems that we are in a nightmare,

and we wake up screaming.

We look around and see

that is the reality we are living in!

My day to day is in my room

without a hug or a kiss.

It is difficult to live without affection,

I need joy, happiness or bliss!

How many times I've complained

that I didn't want to go to school...

Oh, I'd give everything to be there now

as now I think of me, what a fool! 

What happened to the wonderful world?

That we always hear in the song?

The sky remains blue and clouds white,

but down here everything is wrong!

Children closed at home,

old people full of tears.

People without jobs and food,

everyone lives with fears!

So much suffering, my God, why?

I ask over and over again.

Desperate doctors and without strength,

so many people and families in pain.

Despite the world's suffering,

closed between four walls,

I am blessed with the love of my family.

And this is what I wish for you all.

We must have hope and faith,

and wait for this virus departs.

And then we will start breathing again

and have peace and quiet in our hearts. 

                                                                         João Fonseca 12º2

A virus took over our lives

And changed what we always knew,

Events that I anxiously expected

That now are all through.

We can't get out,

Only if necessary

And hand sanitizer and a mask

Are always something you have to carry.

Looking back at the things we would do,

Now everyone lines up in a queue,

Or you're out shopping or for vaccines

Or you're at home working in screens.

Feeling trapped inside my house,

Thinking about the freedom that I once had,

Knowing everyone is going through the same

But I still feel sad! 

People are suffering in silence

With no one to turn to,

Seeking emotional balance

While fighting being blue.

"The big 18" is what they said,

But Covid-19 still spreads,

Starting to hope for this to go down

While not being able to walk around.

Welcome to the world we live in,

While expecting for this to end,

Loneliness is what we're feelin'

Without physically laughing with a friend.

I just hope to return to what we were,

Taking care of the people without the before precaution,

Glad that everything's gone

But learnt from the misfortune.

                                                                                                Catarina Quadros 12º2 

Roses are red,

violets are blue,

I can't believe that in the beginning

I said that "it was only a flu"!

I don't even enjoy

to write about this pandemic.

However, I shall amuse you

and make it poetic.

It is so strange

that a year has already gone,

and I truly wish that this is the first,

and also the last one.

Everything closed

from cinemas to schools,

due to the quantity of infections,

and the irresponsibility of some fools.

We must all find ways

to protect ourselves and the ones we like,

otherwise we may put them in danger

and let the corona strike.

People are getting anxious,

and some are starting to depress.

If we don't act together, 

this will burgeon into a bigger mess.

And now, here we are today :

all closed and in quarantine.

If anyone told me that virus had vanished away,

I would get goosebumps in my spine

I'm not going to lie

that I have felt sad occasionally.

Being in lockdown for days and days

made me feel sorrowful and lonely.

Nevertheless, during this terrible period

we must find ways to be distracted.

For example, by finding new hobbies

I got way more entertained

To be honest and candid,

I even found more time to focus on me

and maybe if it wasn't for all this,

I wouldn't be able to see the changes that now I see

I hope that this disease disappears

and that it never comes back.

Until then, we must find ways to support this

in order to be able to keep on track.

                                                                               Vasco Rodam 12 2 

Through my window I see

Suffering people, broken souls,

Emptiness, sadness,

And I, myself, don't feel whole

This pandemic is very dangerous,

In every existing way,

And the only thing going up

Is probably my weight

However, it gives us time,

To reflect and to re-think

Some dance, others cry

And others print it with ink

It is essential that everyone

Finds a way to cope

And distracting ourselves

To find new hobbies and new passions

Is what we should attempt

(Finding love perhaps?)

But in the times we live in

You better wear a mask!

People say that good things come,

To those who wait

However, I`m getting tired,

Because being confined makes my heart ache!

Now, I crave summer days

Where hair gets lighter,

Skin gets darker,

Water gets warmer,

Drinks get colder,

Music gets louder,

Nights get longer

Where life gets better.

It's corona time,

Everything seems negative.

And I stay contemplative,

Admiring through the window the sunshine,

Our lives were paused

And we are fighting against the cause

Of all this mess we're living in.

The whole pandemic thing started

About one year ago,

I´ll try to tell you how I dealt with it,

In the poem below.

When they told us we would go home for two weeks

We were extremely excited,

Having unlimited time to play video games

Waking up at the time I decided.

Scientists said it was for real,

A lot of people would die,

But we were young and irresponsible,

So we proceeded with our lives.

That´s when the first Portuguese life was taken,

And everything changed.

I started to think about what could happen,

After all this is done,

The fear of sharing a breath

Or the vulgar human fun,

Because of an invisible deadly threat.~

After all this is done,

When your life is being threatened,

And there is nowhere to run,

And no one even knows what happened.

After all this is done,

I'll travel far, far away,

Or just stay in a café.

After all this is done,

Will I finally be free,

Or did I forget how to live?!

I look outside,

I feel like a part of me died.

I remember the freedom

We used to take for granted.

The first couple of months were not easy,

I almost felt dizzy,

I consistently felt tired and unable to focus on anything,

I wish I had done something.

The only thing that made me smile was thinking of the past

I felt like an outcast

In my own life.

I missed my friends so much

Even though we stayed in touch.

It wasn't the same,

I was going insane 

Today I feel like a new person

I found a new version.

A new Marta,

I had never met before.

I appreciate the small things in life more

And I started to explore.

What I liked,

And I was pleasantly surprised.

I found out what truly brings me happiness

And I stopped feeling the previous laziness

I try to live every moment at its fullness

Without the constant rush

Everything is going to be alright

And when its night

I can finally sleep

Feeling complete

Time passes indefinitely,

Somehow we manage to get through.

Between dog walks and Zoom talks, inevitably,

Life insists to present us nothing new.

So many are the lives we can save,

Only by sitting down with patience.

Never before have so many people been brave,

As bravery is now mistaken for a cold ambience.

As I look down below

From far up my window

And dream of how it was before

I tremble and shake to my core.

Oh, all the time we have lost

The number of things that could have happened

I want this to be over whatever the cost

And to catch up on the life that was abandoned.

From January until April when will it end?

It happened last year, and it will happen again...

Closed in my home

Feels like a prison

Desperate for attention

So please, listen!

A day feels like a week

But a week feels like a day

Starting to feel like a freak

No alternative but to pray

Please god help me!

They say:

Stay at home!

And I have to agree

I just want this to end

I want to talk to my friend

But why don´t I call him?

Because it´s simply not the same

We didn't request this absence,

we didn't request this silence,

our lives are surrounded by fear

for knowing that evil can appear.

This loneliness that suffocates us,

it is only ours,

the days look the same

and are spent by counting the hours.

Away from our families and our friends,

we look forward to the day

that we can leave the house without our face covered,

and this pandemic ends.

Without looking at the consequences

we believe that we make sacrifices,

when our selfishness comes to the fore

damaging those we love more.

We are all in the same boat,

and we row in search of a different reality

wondering what that would be,

if there was no longer fear of touching.

It is important not to lose hope

and believe that, if we all cope,

we'll no longer be confined

Losing something everyday

Seems like we all need to pay

When we only want this to end faster.

This is a blatant disaster.

We only trying to live a normal life,

but it seems like someone is pointing us a knife.

We have learned to work differently.

Hopefully, this year has been filled with opportunity.

Although greatness is achievable,

Even while laying down,

Even while crying for the miserable,

Even though all of us are in the town,

Even while at home, possible.

I can´t go without thinking

That maybe in some way,

Maybe by not risking,

I could´ve celebrated her birthday...

I know I can do all things,

Even if I´m home

But not even all the devices existing,

Alone with grief

Alone to die in a boredom full of homework,

Alone. With me

It is at the reach of an arm,

Anything we could want!

To get out of boredom, solitude, anxiety

But the TV remote is still so much closer than any jaunt...

Oh, the hesitancy...

Between wanting to go out,

But still not because it's required energy

"But everyone is working out!"

"Will they see it if I don´t?"

"Only if you buy these internet leggings!"

"Well, my boyfriend wouldn't want..."

"Shouldn't he just count his blessings?

Stuck at home, nothing to entertain myself with;

Home is like muck, being outside is just a myth.

Doc´s say that they will save us by any means,

Others say the vaccines will change our genes.

At first I was bored, now I am just tired

And to leave home mask is required;

Poem's the only thing that makes me inspired;

In a time that too many are being fired.

Plenty feel lonely;

While others have a new hobby.

The future is foggy,

But we are getting there slowly.

Living at this time is not easy.

Studying to make myself busy.

I wish I could go somewhere,

But they are closing the city.

Outside by nature's gift serene,

Each day of the year passes by,

And by my gleaming corner I deem

on life itself you can't rely.

You come to fetch me from my work,

As your soul loudly reclines,

Mysteriously, beautifully, the sensitive rose

We are living hard times

But sometimes its good because

We become low on crimes

Since everyone is locked in their houses

Although I still can't stop my head buzz

Given that a walk I can't do in daytime

In the end I remain on my window

Just to find the only thing I did

Is dreaming awake like a kid.

I'm looking out the window frame

All day, all night.

Although nothing seems to change,

We're living an invisible fight.

The reality has changed over night

No one knows what to do.

So, we just pretend everything is alright

But deep down we're all angry and blue.

However, we can surely find happiness

And I just discovered something therapeutic.

Whenever I feel sorrow and emptiness

I take a deep breath and write my own music!

Look around for anything precious;

Change your perception and take action

To overcome moments that may seem atrocious

You just need to free yourself through imagination.

Sometimes it may feel as if

You're about to fall off a cliff.

But even if it seems like a never-ending spiral

Try to be hopeful and run away from the denial.

Even though we have no clue,

The best we can do

Is wait and try to distract ourselves

Maybe by diving into the bookshelves.

Everyone must do

What they feel most comfortable to

My distraction is music

But yours can be anything you find amusing.

Soon the pandemic will be over

And we'll have our lives back.

But maybe we'll all have gone through a makeover.

And for everything around us we'll have more respect.

Try to look at this as part of a self-improvement process.

Despite all the negativity around,

Try and fight-back the stress

While being in lockdown.

Through my eyes,

This is a very rough time

But please know that everyone cries

And you're not alone in this ride we call life.