Not Going Back
So you and I are on the run
Pursued by monsters real and fictitious
We come to the edge
Of a wilderness, strange roars in the distance
Storms howling around us.
And people are saying,
“We can’t stay here, and we can’t go on.
We’re scared to death, and some are
Actually dying. We must get back to normal!”
But a few youths, the most abused or
Bravest ones, say they can’t go back.
They won’t go back.
‘People back there are locked in their houses,’
They remind us. ‘They’re out of work, depressed, scared.
Forests and oceans dying.
Bombs dropping. We refuse
To do normal; we couldn’t if we tried.’
They set off into the jungle. Will you
Follow them? Or will you try to go back
To where workers are disposable,
Where health care is unaffordable but bombs
Are free to those who drop them.
Is this the world you want?
Because COVID is our chance to change.
