The timeline is a cry for help.
One person, then another,
A third, a fourth, a fifth.
Magnitudes words flail
Trying to explain.
Oxygen, ICU, plasma, RT-PCR,
Insert medicine name of choice,
Becoming common knowledge;
Names, names, names.
Phone, drugs, cylinders,
Available beds, ambulances,
Doses, plasma units, litres;
Numbers, numbers, numbers.
Cases, deaths,
Absent governments,
And yet,
Humans who have never met,
Never known each other,
Not family or relation;
Not connected by,
Except a desire,
To ask, “What can be done?”
People, people, people.
Into the void,
The hopelessness,
The yawning gap,
The bridges, the links,
The dashes, the dives,
The free lunches,
The clean houses;
The caretakers,
Anonymous.
The stories,
Heroic.
Divisions fraying into dust,
Into a shared present;
However fleeting,
Shining bright, a star.
A path where there seemed none.
A step into the unknown, realising,
We are more similar than we think.
appam stew n prawns patiyo 