Pandemic Passover, Pandemic Easter
Recounting our plagues and our suffering
We mouth the usual tales
As we sit before our screens
During this most unusual spring
Noting how liberation and resurrection
Eventually do arrive
And someone’s always left to declare: Yes, I’ve survived.
That’s the message so far
That’s what’s on the books
How night follows day, how darkness births light
But this year we’re forced to take another look
At some new factor that’s evading detection
As the usual nostrums don’t feel quite right
For here are the ashes, here are the fronds
Right beside the respirators, the hospital gowns
But there are not enough of them
And someone has let someone mortally down
Here’s the wine and the unleavened bread
Raise it for sure, but who’ll be left to escort the dead?
All this should work out according to history
Yet, admit it, who’s really sure?
We’re deeply lost in this new story
And who knows if sickness
This time will be followed by cure.
