The summer holiday is getting closer, with the city of Shanghai opening little by little, giving a lot of us a certain freedom back, which is not to displease. Following the poem around the lockdown written by the English class led by Gillian Brigham, our English teacher Kevin Bowes staged this poem online with his Grade 5 SIA (American International Stream) students…

Titles « Locked in Shanghai », the poem talks about the lockdown, the anxieties linked with what we have gone through, and the strong will to get our freedom of movement back.

Check out the video and its transcription below:

Locked in Shanghai

‘twas the night before lockdown and all through the city

Not a kuaidi was stirring, a terrible pity

The e-learning was coming, already in Pudong

In hopes that our confinement wouldn’t take long

The students were waiting on Zhumu for class

Dreaming of a future when this is past

In the fridge spying the last piece of cake

Wondering what other food I could make

When out of the window I heard the loudspeakers

I rushed to the door, put on my sneakers

Nervously fixing my mask to my face

I can’t wait to get out of this place

Desperately waiting for food to arrive

So hungry I hope I’ll still be alive

Weeks of quarantine, can it get any worse

If I don’t get out I’ll have an empty purse

Dangerously drinking boiled water all the time

Spending far too many hours online

Feels like we’re all slowly going crazy

Unhappily bored and getting very lazy

Social distancing, no food, and e-learning

There’s so many things for which we are yearning

But most of all we want to be released

And hope this lockdown soon will be ceased