A POIGNANT poem written by a nine-year-old schoolgirl highlighted the unprecedented emotions that many people – young and adult – are experiencing during the doom and gloom times.

As part of a school project Maddie Marshall who lives with her family in Abingdon composed a poem about what she is experiencing during the government-enforced self-isolation.

With her work titled 'Lockdown' the Rush Common School pupil highlighted important problems such as panic-buying, virtual communication with family and friends and loneliness in self-isolation.

The poem read: "I can see people queuing outside supermarkets, standing 2m apart, food shelves were empty like classrooms, panic at the start.

"Seeing family upon a screen, friends from school you haven't seen.

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"Listening to the sound of silence, as still as the night, people all in their houses, holding each other tight.

"The sound of people busily buying food, families spending time together, lightening the mood.

"The smell of fear from people not wanting to leave their homes, staying in their gardens, talking to their gnomes.

"Helping in the kitchen, it smells like chocolate cake, dreaming of all the Easter cards and cookies we could make.

"The worry in my belly, struggling to know what is going on, hoping that my grandma and grandads will not be gone.

"My heart beating quickly deep within my chest, thinking about friends and family as well as all the rest.

"Licking delicious chocolate from my fingers, as an early Easter treat.

"Like the frantic feeling when you want much more to eat.

"I may be feeling lonely like a house on a tall hill.

"But I will stay inside forever to stop others getting ill."

Her father Colin Marshall described her creative work as a 'very poignant poem that is a sign of the times we are living in'.