Like most things, it starts overseas
before we know it, people dying like fleas
funny name, but a hellish disease
99.995 chance we survive
Next thing we know,
we got our own woe
won’t hurt Cousin Mary, but may get old Uncle Joe
.012 chance we die
Don’t worry says government man,
gotta prop up business, spend all you can
it’s okay, don’t need no other plan
99.973 chance we survive
NY, LA, Big Easy, Chi-town
people all over, going down
dying a death that’s a very slow drown
.036 chance we die
Now they say 100,000 gonna die,
but we gotta wonder how big they lie,
they got a number, but can’t say how or why
99.947 chance we survive
More than 1,000 dead yesterday,
more than that again today,
some folks wear masks, others just pray
.058 chance we die
Now the real panic begin,
people hoarding and digging in,
who cares if turning on others is sin
99.934 chance we survive
Can’t take no more staying home,
have to get outside, gotta roam
life not meant to be lived under no dome
.077 chance we die
Know what those odds sound like?
damn good, way safer than my fast as hell motor bike,
you smother in that fear, I’m taking a hike
99.915 chance we survive
| Copyright © 2020 by Paul Clark |
But if the laws of Nature don't belie,
ReplyDeletethere is a truth on which we can rely,
no matter that our fearful hope deny
100 chance we die
In the end, you see, wherever we jive,
however slow and careful we drive,
however hard we try to stay alive
0 chance we survive
From my friend Neil via email:
DeleteBrilliant and funny. Thanks, to both [motomynd & Goines].
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIf our leaders didn't lie and told us why
ReplyDeleteinstead of worrying about keeping the rich so rich,
we would not have to worry, hoard, panic and cry
watching the innocent drop away because of their glitch.
Wouldn't it be nice if they told the truth and let us know
the economy was more important than the people?
But, no, apologize?--they dropped the ball so--
now they tell us what to do, too late, full of lethal fecal.
Hear, hear!
DeleteThere one was an I-don't-know named Trump
ReplyDeletewho led his nation into a dump.
He put money before people,
ignored a disease that was lethal
and now we are stuck on our rump.
More! More!
DeleteHave you ever tried to post a reply,
ReplyDeletebut gave up with a sigh,
because you were laughing so hard,
at the idea any of us might actually be a bard?
Okay, enough of that. I am thrilled that my initial effort--which I slaved over for at least 20 minutes--provoked such spirited and clever responses. I realized too late (as in, after I clicked SEND) that my "poem" had spun out of playing word games with my son...my six-year-old son...who is forever asking me to create rhymes using names of his favorite cars. Out of the mindset that created "he said he would drive his old Volvo 245, so we seriously doubted he would ever arrive" came '99.915.'
While I did not mean to make light of something as serious as Covid-19, the math in my "poem" is basically correct: here in America we (so far) have way less than a 1 in 1,000 chance of dying from it. For a guy who remembers a very fast first car that did not even have seatbelts, and who has ridden a motorcycle upwards of 160 mph (on a race track, not a public road), sometimes I have to step back from the corona mania and wonder...
"is this maybe a bit too much ado,
over something far less than the 1918 flu?"
From Neil:
DeleteTrue, all true, motomynd, about the 1918 flu.
Sweden is testing whether a less draconian approach is viable, I wondered whether a more nuanced approach wasn't feasible from the beginning. I would have probably closed bars and restaurants and all gatherings of more than 6 but otherwise the Swedish approach, closing high schools and colleges, people at risk staying at home, with minimum non essential or work related contact, seems reasonable. It relies on people going along with the concept of self distancing. Hand washing, etc. Discipline, however, is not our strong suit.
We'll see how Sweden makes out.
We forget Nortin [M. Hadler, MD]'s point that a significant percentage of the population has to get sick and have immunity for the spread of the flu to be suppressed. The fewer get it this cycle, likely more will get the next. Without a vaccine, that's what likely will happen. A percentage of those infected will die, fewer with good care.
Pay me now or pay me later.
So where is the toilet paper?
ReplyDeleteThe reams of paper towels?
On the shelf where rice should be only vapor
and facial napkins for our bowels.