Ode to the Coronavirus, Part 2

Into year two, the coronavirus continues its uninvited debut.
We’d thought this ballyhoo would long since be through.
Glasses held high, we’d toast good riddance to this bugaboo.
A vaccine would be our savior; we’d celebrate our derring-do.

But as summer rolled into fall of ‘21—my how the time flew!—
adolescent deaths began to accrue; there’d been a switcheroo!
But wait! Why is this so? Did we misconstrue what we knew?
Did Dr. Fauci not argue that the COVID flu would soon shoo?

Here is what happened, from my personal point of view, for you.
Reasons were two: one from science grew, another just shy of voodoo.
So true: A genetic variation of COVID had been playing peekaboo.
More virulent than its nephew, and on cue, this new flu wanted its due.

Soon, variant “D” began its coup, society askew, hospitals in need of rescue.
Dr. Fauci preached calm: D would meet its Waterloo and rue its debut.
Three vaccines arrived thereto, their makers touting their breakthrough:
Pfizer, Moderna, and J&J too, had a rendezvous; variant D they’d subdue.

The devil’s in the brew, and so it’s true; a rogue view came into the slew.
It’s true—I kid not you—some came to eschew the miracle creation so new.
They’d refuse their injections long overdue, no matter the positive review.
“Why do you argue, why do you pooh pooh?” asked journalists anew.

Reasons—often absurd and nearly all untrue—filled their misguided spew.
The unvaccinated naysayers held to their view, no matter their miscue.
“If I want to risk my life, what’s it to you? Isn’t that my choice? Screw You!”
Recognizing the deja vu of a contagious, deadly flu, to them seemed taboo.

So what do we do? Does the greater good not outweigh our personal view?
A solution is beyond this purview, but perhaps religion can offer a preview.
Might those in charge of the hereafter offer a clue to those in the queue?
“What do you think Jesus, Mohammed, or the Buddha would do?” Et tu?

Categorised in: Odes, Stories

This post was written by paulmarktag