Plague Days

A time of plague – no time to play

When busy men and women stop their lives and say;

Will it be me? Will I be next? Why me, I hear them pray.

These are the burning questions of the day.

 

It’s on all our lips.

Princes and peasants and political bigwigs.

And children too.

And their parents and their parent’s parents.

All seeking to know the fake from the true.

 

I asked myself these self-same questions

One fever chilled night.

And the answer came back cold and bright.

And I have to confess, it gave me a fright.

Survival is all. Survival of the herd.

All the rest is noise, so loud and absurd.

The herd must be culled – it’s nature’s way.

And the virus is nature – it must have its day.

 

It was all very obvious, not that clever,

That our deadly virus demanded a collective endeavour.

The binman, the busman, the train operator,

The scientist, the medic and the geek with our data.

The supermarket staff and the diligent clerk

Low paid workers making their mark.

And for the kids off school, it’s no big lark.

 

And it is obvious too

Though they say, as they always do,

‘That we’re all in it together’

Though that’s patently untrue.

The poor do the dying, only a thousand times more

‘cause our iniquitous system has one central flaw.

You guessed it buddy; ‘It’s one rule for the rich and one for the poor’.

And they call it democracy and enshrine it in law.

 

As the virus spreads its shadow across our lockdown lands,

No more frolicking in the sun, no more lazing in the sands.

It’s a little inconvenient for some, but life and death for the many

As the planet’s desperados go in search for a pound or a penny.

It’s a virus that shines a spotlight on our broken societies,

A dress rehearsal perhaps for the coming catastrophes

Of climate crises of a thousand varieties.

 

And when it all subsides, what world will be left?

The famished, the jobless and the families bereft.

Or will the corporates and their governments become more compassionate and caring?

A Damascene conversion to become more socially daring?

But more likely it will be business as usual

A capitalist dystopia with the markets still blaring

That profit is everything and to hell with the sharing!

 

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