Coronavirus

There is a shadow knocking on my door

He doesn’t seem too nice

To say I don’t want him to come in

Should surely suffice

But the knocking won’t cease

The darkness won’t leave me in peace

Filled with terror and fear

For rather dangerous does this blackclad stranger appear

I leap out the back

My slippers hit the ground with a clack

I hop in my car, and go to a store near

It is said that soap and sanitizer can repel the beast

In wanting to be infected I am most definitely least

To take back control

To make myself feel more whole

I take toilet paper as well

And I think to myself, “How swell!”

“I have gotten rid of any risk to my harm,”

“There’s no more cause for alarm!”

I park my car, and go home

Where I am assured no shadows can roam

The shadow is still at the door

But I fear no more

For my chemicals and toilet paper are enough

For it to get in would be quite tough

I go up the stairs

And read a book, aloof from the world.

But as I sat on my couch, so chaos swirled.

It twisted and it turned

And the hands that contained it, those it burned

Stung, they let go of the jar

Chaos exploded outwards, and it traveled far.

It reached for the Sun, and blotted out every star

Violent, dark, and vengeful black tar

Filled every street

People would no longer meet

The radio blared from my table

It announced to my shock

A general lockdown in every block

Anyone, any face

Could be carrying shadows with them

Darkness lurking inside their phlegm

No contact whatsoever

Not now, not in 3 days, not in 3 weeks, in what seemed like not ever

Social distancing was advised

To everyone this was a sad and terrible surprise

Stocks fell like meteors from the sky

Opposing anything the government would try

Was the whole world going to die?

And I looked out my window the next day

There was nothing happy that I could say.

For there were shadows at everyone’s door

Many people were reduced to cowering on the floor

Some were terrified out of their wits, with no hope

Others ran around in a blind panic, at the end of their rope.

I watched with growing horror

As shadows broke into a home, and grabbed someone.

He struggled, tried to run

But he was old, and they were cruel.

He fought back, the strongest medicine aiding him in battle

But the shadows were stronger, and the bed would rattle

With the shivers caused.

I hope, one last time, he got to see the Sun

Before taken away by the wicked ghoul.

In other places, to other unsuspecting faces, the same fate

Silently would await.

I noticed something strange

Many experts complained supplies were becoming thin

Moods grew depressed and grim

Hopes began to rapidly dim

This needed to change

I filled boxes full of all my excessive stuff

I just hoped it was enough

I burst open the door, and spritzed the shadows away

Not today.

I went back to the store, shadows following in a trail

But I had anger on my side, and ran like the fastest gale

The store’s shelves were bare

No one seemed inclined to share

People fighting over the last tissue box

Plowing into each other like an ox

I set my box down

Returned many an item

And in doing so, killed many a frown

Workers restocked with a snap of the finger

Now that there was plenty to spare

I was greeted with smiles and cheers

I had, unknowingly, banished some of their fears

The shadows still waited, but they could fight

With all their might, and overcome their fright. 

They no longer had to choose flight. 

I had returned many a sanitizer bottle, and soap bars too

If I wanted to kill the shadows, that is what I had to do

Not just for myself

But as a moral duty

You can’t hoard,

Can’t afford to be snooty

And as I gave, the shadows faltered.

There were no easy targets to attack

They could still wage their war

But we would certainly fight back

And in the darkness of the tunnel

We have to look for the light ahead

We can’t let ourselves be overtaken by dread

We have to be human, and help others too

Because we are humans. And that is what we will do.

No shadow can dim our light

We shine just as bright

As the Sun, and the celestial stars too

Be a human.

Through and through.

True and true.