Lockdown #10: Final Analysis
Our journey began with a brand-new word,
COVID – a term we wished we’d never heard
And Corona was a beer
Before the virus got here
And a worldwide lockdown – totally absurd
Emotional scenes at airports and interstate lines
Some borders now opening after harrowing times
Loved ones reunited
Business reignited
And ditch the masks outside as our new sun shines
But our pizza man lied about where he’d been
Made it hard for the contact tracing team
Such fear and fluster
With the SA cluster
Surely eradication is just a dream
Around the Kiwi board table my colleagues were sitting
But I couldn’t fly to meet them in Wellington city
On Zoom marooned
With travel harpooned
COVID free but empty, NZ just sitting pretty
Felicitations d’Argentina y los Pumas
Caught COVID, forced quarantines and then fortunas
Months on the road
Rugby seeds sowed
To beat the Mighty All Blacks, the big kahunas
Trump still won’t concede, making such an ordeal
But twelve million cases are hard to conceal
He’ll trash and burn
Before Biden’s turn
Drive the country in a ditch while still at the wheel
The Swedish King proclaims to ‘Hold on tight’
For a bumpy ride through the dark winter’s night
While our cases are stagnant
Their virus runs rampant
Herd immunity a blight on basic human rights
Need to work closer with our Chinese friends
Look at ourselves through their historic lens
Yes democratic latitude
But rein in our attitude
Not containment but engagement and make amends
And as if we don’t have enough challenging times
Now we hear of our soldiers in horrific war crimes
But no reprimand
Up the chain of command
That crazy Afghan war of barbaric minds
From the COVID pan and back to the climate fanned fires
Destroying wildlife in their combusting forest pyres
A gas led recovery
Can go to buggery
It’s gotta be time our fleet of coal clunkers retires
Emerging from rehab with COVID sobriety
Humanity and climate with passion and piety
A voice for indigenous
No place for misogynist
Carpe diem the moment for a better society
Many COVID legacies will be well worth keeping
Not just home working, less travel, remote meetings
But the community connection
That beat this infection
Then the pleasure we craved of physical greetings
Optimism abounds for the saviour vaccine
For no more cowering in national quarantine
But full absolution
Will need fair distribution
To inoculate the world from this COVID-19
So what will be our verdict in the final analysis
History will judge if our leaders handled this
Viral insurgency
With vital urgency
To have avoided this disastrous planetary paralysis!
Kevin Holmes • 25th November 2020
