The Poem of the Snake
by Angie Sutcliffe
An idea came about,
From Buxton it all began, Then Marco Withy,
Thought of ‘The Lines’,
Where a long, long lane ran.
He walked up with his children,
Seb aged 6 and Olive 9,
They placed the first stones of the snake,
Along the ‘Totty Line’.
Next day they all returned,
But sadly, the stones weren’t there,
But some folk didn’t realise,
They were meant to stay to be fair.
So more stones were painted,
And placed upon the ground,
With a little sign to ask politely,
To leave them were they were found.
The first date that this happened,
Was on the 9th of May,
So the sign can still be seen there,
Saying add, Don’t take away.
Then Anna Maria and David decided,
That the snake was in need of a head,
So they enlisted some help from little Mia,
Who loved helping paint it they said
And so the snake soon grew,
It goes for many miles,
But there’s more all over the country,
Along our Golden Isles.
So what started one fine evening,
Just out on a family stroll,
Led to a permanent reminder,
After folk voted in a poll.
To see what could be done,
That would suit everyone involved,
The best ideas were voted on,
And so History had evolved.
So walk with me, through history,
Along the lines so long,
To find the snake with his long smooth body,
And his curly little tongue.
He was created by young and old,
To brighten up your day.
But he’s also a part of history,
To be captured in a unique way.
We were all under stress,
Not allowed out, because of Corona Virus,
But we stood together, though 2 meters apart,
To draw but not on Papyrus.
Instead we painted pebbles,
Stones of many shapes,
With pictures and The NHS on,
Our heroes without capes.
We coloured them with crayons,
Felt tips and indelible ink.
Then each was placed next to the other,
To form a wriggly link.
It stretched on and on this snake of ours,
As far as the eye could see,
Now to be captured on film,
Our history of 2020
For each pebble in our snake,
Tells a story of one and all,
Of when Corona Virus,
Put around us an invisible wall.
It shows how we all fought our battles,
Each one tells its very own tale,
Of love and of loss and of courage,
And of what our lives did entail.
Some stones have names upon them,
Some are pictures so bright,
Others have a message wrote on them,
But all tell the tale of our plight.
When people were all told to stay home,
Not to venture outside,
Unless absolutely essential,
But still thousands of people have died.
We were told that we should all wash our hands thoroughly,
And use sanitizer as well,
And not to get close to others,
Or the number of cases could swell.
Some ran out and panicked,
Stocked up on rice and bog roll,
Some sat at home worrying,
But on all it took its own toll.
But we were all allowed out briefly,
To take in fresh air for a walk,
But told not to stop and get chatting,
No it could be dangerous to talk.
So we found other ways to communicate,
We left little messages to find,
On stones and pebbles in the shape of a snake,
And for miles and miles it did wind.
Some folks wanted to keep it,
Forever in its place,
So that everyone would forever see it,
As they walked by at their own daily pace.
Others said put it somewhere safer,
Maybe in the park or the school,
So a poll was set up to help folk,
To decide by community pool.
Great ideas came from all over,
But the main thing was preservation,
We wanted the rest of the world,
To see how strong was our nation.
We wanted to show other people,
That no matter if you’re black or you’re white,
We could all work together,
Like the links of our snake,
We can all unite.