Poem to COVID - Virginia Francisco

[Larry Robinson]

Poem to COVID
 
I´d turn right away from you
wherever I crossed you in the street
and as you came towards me
I´d quickly go the other way.
Until one day you made it quite clear:
there was nowhere I could go where you wouldn´t be.
Despite all the washing.
And the sanitizing.
And the spraying.
When you finally had me cornered
I was forced to soften and let you in.
Into my lungs, my veins,
my blood and my beating heart.
Now everything I touch inevitably becomes you.
Every breath an exhalation of your voracious self.
And I start to get a hint
of what it felt like to be kept away
isolated, excluded, shut off, sent back
and why you decided to go ahead
and jump over the fence with the “no trespassing” sign 
into my virgin immunity.
-so much for fences.
You are running rampant in me now
And I am not planning to stop you. 
You´ve made my limbs slower
and my breathing heavier.
My thoughts have condensed into dark formations
and my emotions turned oddly dull.
So I decided to become a playground
for you to go wrecklessly wild in.
All rides freely open for you!
Climb me, swirl through my veins,
turn round in my joins and slide down my bones, 
bungee-jump from my head to my feet
-what the heck
Let´s turn this body into a viral funfair!
And once you´re done feasting over me
will you please accept the humble offering
of my body-mind,
and spare my soul?

	- Virginia Francisco