Niyi Osundare
II
Strange times, these
Lockdown penance for a flighty world
COVID came complete with its viral madness
Its new World Order, its frightful protocol:
Remember your Six Feet
Don’t shake hands with friend or foe
Never leave home
Without your mask
For your erstwhile neighbour
Is now a walking plague
Shout your greeting from a sterile distance
Six feet apart – or six feet under
Our tactile world is on virtual hold
Virtual classrooms, virtual students
Virtual teachers and virtual brains
Our brave new era of hide-and-speak
Mountain lions romp in public squares
Wild boars hold court in mirthless malls
Chimpanzees strut and sway in empty streets
Wondering: “Just where are our fellow primates”?
Bat-borne, some say
Lab-invented, others insist
This Unseen Foe has brought
Haughty Humanity to its painful knees
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