I’m crying now
These days of emergencies, sirens
Constant daily TV coverage

Escaped criminals, Covid virus
Days where people die alone
There is no other way

Breaking News alerts sound
Panic invades the human heart
High heart rates abound

Talk mitigation
Mapping the spread
City by city, country by country

Caught somehow
Human vector to human vector
By simple contact

People passing each other
Not even knowing if
They escaped its mighty path

Nor who might fall
By not hand washing enough
Or touching their face again

Where a slight cough from a passerby
Where a five-minute talk or standing six feet away
Results in a positive diagnosis

Unknowingly
Spreading to you or your daughter
Or to your neighbor

Tears stream down my face
Day and night, overwhelming and relentless
Unfolding by the hour, day after day

No mercy
No end in sight
How long will this last?

Before we get sick?
Before we know death?
Before we lose our wit?