Coronavirus

The virus is devouring the planet
For us who took meandering,
Nearly at will,
As the way our world spun;
We who are blessed
With generous measures
Of strength and possibilities
Wandered our neighborhoods
And far beyond
As means allowed
And inclination prompted.

But now a trip to choir practice
Is an act of courage, daring,
Perhaps irresponsibility,
Endangering others,
Harming those I love.

How could a time,
Decades, have been
When for us—
The blessed ones
Not living, or enduring,
In famine, poverty, infirmity,
Subjugation, or war—
Only time and budget impeded
Our exploring the globe?

And now we avoid trains and planes,
Restaurants and theaters,
Gatherings at church and school,
And touching one another.

• 

Throughout the eons,
Lives have been transformed,
Darkened or destroyed;
We feared Earth’s annihilation
By inundation or asteroid,
But our present world and ways
Are trampled by a microbe
Unheard of when the old year
Stepped away a season ago,
Ceding time and space
To a new decade holding hope
Now dying,
But seeking resurrection.