Coronavirus in the U.S.

It came with warning,
Prepared we were not.
Caused grief to many 
And lucky we were not.

People called it the chinese virus,
But it did not discriminate against its victims.
To many names to count 
Death’s list grew longer.

Masks in short supply,
Only source of protection.
We became more aware of others.
Distancing ourselves was the only way.

Stores became crowded 
People flocked to them like herds of sheep.
Prices rose and so did peoples struggles
Stimulus check was not enough

Then came stocks,
Fear rose but down went the stocks.
It plagued the global economy,
Things came to a halt.

Schools were closed,
Then came certain stores,
People lost their jobs,
No one was left untouched

Then the news came,
My uncle had passed.
He left behind my 2 cousins,
Sorrowful we are all.

One lived in Australia
The other in the UK
He was cherished by those around him
But a proper goodbye, he got none.

It seems like the virus has won
In our isolation, we learned what was meant by
“the Human condition”, now
We reminisce all that we have lost.

-In memory of my good uncle, a great father, husband, someone people in the community would look up to. Wanted the best for my cousins thus he did all he could for their education. He was well respected and helped those even when he did not have enough for himself. May he rest in peace. And hopefully, we all get through this disaster and remain hopeful still after.

Rationale for Poem:

I wanted to make a free write /elegy poem. Elegy poems are supposed to be sorrowful and melancholy. I wanted my target audience to be anyone, it did not matter. I just wanted to express how I saw this whole issue eventually invade into the U.S. and into NYC eventually. It has affected us all in NYC and my family especially had its fair share of struggles. I have had to deal with sharing a laptop because my personal one broke. Working at home where I get easily distracted. It has brought my family a lot closer and that is good, considering we just lost someone dear to us. My uncle died due to coronavirus and the whole funeral thing was not organized well. My cousins who live in different countries in order to pursue education could not even look at his real face before he was buried. The best they got was a video call with their deceased father, because of travel restrictions they were not able to be there for the funeral and the whole thing is just sad. Hopefully, we find a cure, and things get better soon.