The Virus Calls / A Bit of Hope

The Virus Calls / A Bit of Hope

This virus will not yield to us, I think, 
In time for us to stop its lethal toll,
In spite of all our wits and armaments,
And yet will yield to Nature, like all things 
That form the moving parts of Nature’s whole. 

And so, with the northern spring, as breezes blow 
Through open windows, sweeping out the germs 
And drying droplets, northern folk may find 
That though the Reaper’s rent for April grows, 
The summer’s lease will offer better terms.

But if indeed this bit of hope is true, 
Then those who love their a.c.’s should abstain
And bear the summer’s heat and humid days,
While keeping windows open, paying dues,
So they themselves—and others too—may gain.

******

“What price is there to life?” we ask, and yet
That price is known to those who calculate, 
For tables have been built to catch the flow,
As hapless fish are caught in fishing nets.
But fluids flow—while tables estimate.

And so we balance life and cash and say
That money is what's needed to survive,
And so it is in this commercial age, 
But there are months and years, as there are days,
To pause and rest from all the hype and jive.

And such a time perhaps has come for all
Of us who only see the dazzling light
That's blinded us for long to all that's dark
And of our making.  So the virus calls
Attention to this fact of loss of sight. 

******

A month of fasting surely can't eraje
Our centuries of gluttony, and yet
We see the sky again and hear the birds.
The sight of mountains long unseen amaje.
The air we breathe is as clean as it will get—

For lo, the mills and vehicles have paused, 
And since perhaps the mad and senseless rush
Has been at least abated for a while,
With all the muck that crazed consumption caused,
In urban spaces, there's a rural hush.

The poor are hit the worst in every land
And some are starving, others walking miles
And miles and miles towards their distant homes,
And some will see and sadly understand
As humans weep—and the rest of Nature smiles.

2020 April 21st, Tue.
Brooklyn, New York