Islander In The City:

ONCE UPON A VIRUS

“HIV, Ebola, and Zika are ugly, nasty viruses. David Goodsell makes them look beautiful, even alluring.” A science news

 

It took a virus

To isolate people

From each other.

 

It took a virus

To isolate people

From their leaders

Forgetting they are public servants

Not thugs of fiefdom.

 

They are always out of touch

Quick to curse and order

And always deserted

By common sense.

 

It took a virus

To see a nation in prayer

Fearful for their loved ones

And fervently imploring

For dear departed.

 

It took a virus

To make us all realize

That luxury goods

And signature clothes

No longer make sense

At this time

Of the endless quarantine period.

 

It took a virus

To humble ourselves

Before someone

Higher than our common biases.

 

We are closer to living

In the periphery of substance

Having learned

To shy away

From the peripheral.

 

It took a virus

To bring us back

To our humanity

 

Even as in another planet

The wicked multiply

As they feast

On the carcasses

Of the dead

And the hungry.

 

I wash my hands regularly

To stay away from the virus.

 

Beyond this

I know

It took a virus

To make us appreciate

 

What we have always ignored —

 

The glory of sunrise.

The melancholy of sunset

 

And most of all

To settle for sufferance

Under constant battering

From rising storms

And swirling floodwaters.

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