A DISSENTING VOICE

Coronavirus: What to do?
When everyone has a point of view
(And where many of the opinions differ)
The long- term consequences make me shiver.

Have we got things in proportion?
Have governments got too much power?
It's 2020 not Nineteen Eighty-Four
Yet before the law we cower:

Many quarantined in their home
Trying to cope all on their own.
Trapped indefinitely inside
When what they need is exercise.

Various diseases and conditions
Are going undiagnosed.
What health problems are we storing up?
Really no-one knows.

Shops going bust or seeking loans
As the economy creaks and groans
Social- distancing it seems is not enough
So we enter the unknown.

The shops of charities have been forced to close;
These charities can only suffer
Who stops to think of the effect
On parents, sistets, brothers?

And when restrictions are lifted
Many will be out of work and stressed.
Fewer people will have been paying taxes
Meaning less money for the NHS.
(The NHS we claim to love and clap for).

And so when the lockdown relaxes
Those who have not been able to exercise
Or who've eaten unhealthy foods
And/or felt stressed and turned to booze

Will have less help- but then
At the end of the day
When we look back
We were all going to die of something 
Anyway.

MDC