If (You Wear a Mask)
with apologies to Rudyard Kipling
If you can keep your head when many about you
Are losing theirs and calling it a ruse,
If you can follow social distancing when many around you
Flout it — and not give in to their flouting too;
If you can be patient and not be tired by patience,
Or being despised, and have the strength to rise,
Or being vilified, still believe in science,
And yet not care if your breath fogs up your bespectacled eyes:
If you can keep track of days — and tell them apart;
If you can regularly exercise — in an attempt to stay sane;
If you can appreciate Doctors at the hospital and Grocers at the mart
And revere those essential services just the same;
If you can bear the smell of sanitizer
Slowly engulfing the walls of your home,
Or watch your holiday plans shatter,
And accept zero refunds on your cancelled trip to Rome:
If you can load on carbs for lunch on a workday
And risk dozing off during a conference call,
Only to be jolted awake by your colleague and pray
That your camera and…
