The Invisible Vampyre

By Matthew Hardwyck

Although you’ll never see me,
I’ll take your breath away.
Your temperature will rise
for this well-travelled émigré.

I’ll take you to your bed,
where your heart will beat aflutter
and you’ll be lost for words
but for a cough and ragged splutter.

I know you’ll never love me
and would sooner have me thwarted.
If I don’t kill you then you’ll purge me
like thousands I have courted.

But somehow you stand together,
when I make you stand apart.
And that is how you’ll beat me,
with your loved ones in your hearts.

‘Till in the not-so-distant future,
when I’m a lesser threat
and your life is back to normal
you’ll be relieved, but yet-

Every time you watch the news
and see a nurse’s kindness,
or feel the heat on a loved one’s brow,
or cough with tickly dryness,

You’ll remember you were trapped at home
as my terror was unfurled.
You’ll remember how you lived in fear
because I ruled the world.

Matthew Hardwyck is extremely chuffed to be publishing a poem; until recently he put most of his creative efforts into writing short science fiction and horror stories.

The Invisible Vampyre was written for a family competition – my cousin-in-law kept us all entertained by holding quizzes and competitions, and this was my submission for one of the early competitions. The remit was to write a poem related to lockdown or coronavirus.