The effects will be temporary
That’s what the official said
But there’s nothing temporary
About being dead
A blip in the economy
Quell the panic buying
Keep supplies coming
The market isn’t dying
If you wanted toilet paper
In your weekly shop
Then you’re out of luck
Those hoarders never stop
But you don’t need to worry
The effects are temporary
We are sure to beat
Our latest adversary
Just be sure to wash your hands
The masks won’t help you much
Keep coughs and sneezes to yourself
And be careful what you touch
But it’s all temporary
Watch us now beat this
Remember no more shaking hands
And certainly don’t kiss
You might find you have to
Self isolate at home
Just for fourteen days
But try not to moan
‘Cause it’s only temporary
That’s what the official said
For most of us anyway
Unless you end up dead

Nothing but bad news anyway
What will people die of today?
Buried in rubble after an earthquake?
Thrown from a car driven by a drunk?
Or cut up and thrown in the river
Or lost in the snow storm to shiver
And never find a way home
But die alone
Or be trapped in a city of millions
As a virus multiplies by billions
Infecting
Incubating
Mutating
Killing
Nothing but bad news anyway
And it’s set to get worse they say

Oh won’t you stop dwelling on the misery
And look on the bright side?
That guy was convicted of his crime
Yeah but his daughter died
That baby was found and cared for
Yeah but first he was abandoned
Those kittens were rescued from the ice
But they suffered before they were found
That child was pulled out alive
Yeah but her parents lay buried
The virus is only killing a small percentage
Yeah but we need to be worried
Yeah there are positives
But come on, you can’t hide
From reality, perpetual misery
Is the flip side of the bright side

Oh let us have a darker sky
Give us a chance to look up high
And see the diamonds sparkle there
In Mother Nature’s beauty share
So many hidden in the night
So often drowning in the light
A precious gift for you to find
To contemplate, expand your mind
I have the chance, wrapped up in dark
Out in the woods, out in the park
Find joy at what the eye now sees
The stage is framed between the leaves
But there, one star, it sets a course
Driven by unnatural force
A satellite across the scene
Of beauty up there still serene
But then a second, third and fourth
Heading South, East, West or North
So many more since I was young
And now I feel the bell has rung
A tolling to lament the past
Once innocent, that didn’t last
Give it another twenty years
And then I wonder if my fears
Of seeing hundreds file on by
Will come to pass, I wonder why
I value specks of nature’s light
Not any formed by human might
By people there are wonders made
Some that last and some that fade
But just for once I’d like a place
A truly untouched open space
For once let interference cease
And solace there will be in peace