A Poem for a Pandemic

We can send our children to childcare,
but at schools we can’t teach.
We can visit the bottle shop,
but can’t walk on the beach.
Women are birthing
alone
by themselves,
while qualified graduates are looking for jobs
packing shelves.
While we’re all distracted
with what’s on the news and TV,
governments are changing policies
in places we can’t see.
We’re all virtue signalling
#stayhome! Save lives!
and mental health problems,
we’re already counting by fives.
We are doing this all for
health and wellbeing,
but now all these
unhealthy
unsolvable
world problems we’re seeing.
Unemployment, domestic violence –
they’re all on the rise,
and we celebrate that cities
finally have blue skies.
Such strange times we are living,
this waiting game.
It’s clear that the world
will never be the same.
From their comfortable mansions
celebrities post videos,
“We’re all in this together!”
…but people are feeling
more
isolated
than
ever.
It’s hard to live
when your freedom has been taken,
when your world has been shaken,
and full of misinformation.
Is there something behind this?
What is the reason?
The solution? The impact?
Will we recover from this season?
I’m afraid I don’t know,
nor do you.
But I know I am loved
and I know you are, too.
Don’t believe all you hear,
step in other people shoes,
and maybe for a minute just
take your eyes off the news.
In these challenging times
let’s embrace what is true.
Let’s love
give
pray
trust
discern
help
and pull through.