A PONTYPOOL carer has had a poem selected for a book called Poems For A Pandemic, which will help raise money for NHS Charities Together.

Hannah Hillier, 38, from Pontypool, a carer at Ty Ceirios Nursing Home, had her poem - called ‘After Darkness Comes Sun’ - chosen to be part of the anthology of poems, which comprises work written by frontline workers and their families during the pandemic. It is published by Harper Collins.

“I’m previously unpublished and it was such an honour to have my poem chosen to be included in this book,” she said.

“My friend posted on social media that she was struggling with lockdown and I just wrote this poem to try and cheer her up a bit. I was then contacted by a work colleague who put me in touch with Angela Marston, a retired nurse who was collected poems to add to an anthology.

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Hannah Hillier was chosen as one of the 100 poets to feature in the book

“I submitted a few poems and this one was chosen. I have had a lot of interest in one of my other poems that I wrote a few years ago, about dementia. It was shared a lot on social media, but nothing has ever been published before.

“I’ve always written bits and pieces of poetry, but I’ve lost most of them through the years as they were jotted down on bits of paper. I really started to write more when I was looking after my grandfather who had dementia.

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“When he went into a nursing home, I followed him by getting a job there, so I now still look after him in Ty Ceirios nursing home.

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The book is available to buy on Amazon, iBooks and all other good eBook stores

“Being a carer in a nursing home during this pandemic is scary, we’ve had some very worrying times when new residents come in from hospitals, but all the carers are amazing.

“We make sure infection control procedures are followed and we’ve managed to keep Covid out. Only very recently the whole home was swabbed, and every single test came back negative, which was a huge achievement.

“I’ve written loads and I’m hoping to put a book together one day of everything I’ve written to pass down to my children”.

After Darkness Comes Sun

We’ll all have a breakdown,

We’ll all have a cry,

I’ve had a few,

I’m not going to lie.

It’s ok to worry,

It’s ok to fret,

This thing we are fighting,

Isn’t over yet.

But amongst it all,

Remember to smile,

For this will be over,

In a little while.

We’ll look back on this time,

And remember the fun,

It won’t all be sadness,

After darkness comes sun.