We started to hear of a new virus in Wu-han, China, early this year.
Began in an open-air market, with a bat, they said,
It had the same name as a light Mexican beer.
While we were still travelling and teaching,
It became something serious to fear.
Deaths on the rise everywhere, and lockdowns began,
Into the brave new world of isolation we peer.

So we are cooped up at home, experiencing connection of a different kind,
Realizing even with all our technology we were not prepared,
And our plans for the future seem to unwind
As we are so uncertain now,
Our fates suddenly revealed as all intertwined.
Those who keep working help us see compassion,
As we wait for the vaccine the scientists are hoping to find.

Corruption in governments and leaders leer
Quarantine laws slow and inconsistent.
Calamity soon ensued, and conflicts that were already here
Continue to put the poorest of our world at the most risk.
There has to be a different way to steer
Our society onwards and afterwards...
What will be the story the new generation hears?

COVID-19  forces confrontation.
We must take a long hard look
At what else is communicable besides disease,
At our common fate, contingent on each other,
At capitalism, as it wavers and our stock markets crash.

The creation of more borders, the continuation of bitter divides will not do.
Can we grasp hold of our commonalities, see clearly how human we all are,
Capable of contracting the same deadly pathogen?

This pandemic can be a call.
For a more compassionate and cooperative world,
For living together more carefully,
To refuse to stand for cruelty and wanton consumption.
Perhaps this will harken the paving of a new path,
the creation of a new code,
So we can take better care of our little blue marble in the sky.