In the Time of Pandemic - Bill Greenwood

[Larry Robinson]

😇

> On May 22, 2020, at 6:57 AM, Larry Robinson <Lrobpoet at sonic.net> wrote:
> 
> In the Time of Pandemic
> 
> It is the time of virus and testing,
> of outbreaks and epicenters, 
> time of rates of infection
> and death tolls of loved ones.
> 
> It is the time of face masks
> and closures, of quarantines
> and distance to flatten
> alarming bell curves.
> 
> And it is the time of desperate
> shopping and panicky selling,
> of markets collapsing,
> of gun sales booming.
> 
> Faced with such facts,
> what does our populist leader do
> but stand up to the cameras
> and bully the Press.
> He huffs and he puffs
> and his great balloon brain
> unleashes its forked tongue…
> and still his apologists cheer.
> 
> Oh woe is my country.
> Here sheltered in place,  
> armed with no medical knowledge,
> no wealth or position,
> no radio program or newspaper column,
> no podcast or facebook,
> locked down and stymied,
> I mine what little I know:
> 
> That lies come home to roost
> at the door of their maker.
> That the goldfinch of truth
> can be trusted to sing.
> 
> That dear ones we’ve lost
> bequeath us the memory
> of what made them beloved,
> and aspiring to give new life
> to these very qualities is all we have
> now to requite our better angels.
> 
> 	- Bill Greenwood