One day, our planet woke up and saw
That no one cared for her anymore:
 
Her seas were trashed, her land polluted;
Greed full volume, mindfulness muted.
 
Humans grabbed, consumed, created waste;
Without caring they amassed, in haste,
 
Mountains of rubbish, poisonous pools;
Toxic fumes from fires of fossil fuels.
 
Earth cried, “Humans don’t appreciate
The change they need initiate!
 
“What shall I do? They’re destroying me!
I’ll send some warnings they’ll need to heed.”
 
So she tried fearsome flames, famine, floods,
Tsunamis, disease spread via blood,
 
To shake men from their destructive daze;
Avert them from their polluting ways.
 
But so frustrated was she, when they
Cared nothing for what she had to say.
 
So proud of their ingenuity,
They solved every problem they could see:

Medicine to cure illness, avoid death;
Fires extinguished to their final breath;
 
Waters re-channeled, winds whisked elsewhere;
Nature confounded with frightful flare;
 
The soil pummelled to grow wheat for bread;
Rainforests razed; fat animals bred.
 
Pillaging the planet for profit,
Not giving back, just taking from it,
 
Fighting, grasping, at war without cease;
Competing for land, wanting their piece,
 
Their state of affairs was such a mess.
Accruing more just worsened their stress.
 
Hate and misery on the increase;
Anxiety ruled, instead of peace;
 
Whilst their fast growing population
Merely advanced the agitation.
 
So, the beautiful Earth of blue and green,
Created virus Covid-19.
 
From China, so highly commercial,
Flew germs designed for max dispersal.
 
 
Passing through droplets in the air,
Or on the touch of the unaware,
 
Quickly infecting those near and far,
It travelled the world by plane, by car.
 
The weak and old were the first to fall
And soon it was infecting them all.
 
No more could they take life for granted;
Now they were, so fast, supplanted.
 
Men started to panic and despair
At this disease so cruel, so unfair.
 
It seemed to attack out of the blue
And no one, at all, knew what to do.
 
Desperately seeking information,
As loved ones died of suffocation,
 
They plummeted into misery,
Unable to solve the mystery.
 
They closed down schools, shut children inside;
Made reams of new rules by which to abide:
 
No more travel or socialising!
Stay home (except for exercising)!
 
 
Commerce stopped; workers made redundant.
Sad, cash-tight and spare-time abundant,
 
They sat around with nothing to do,
Trying to stop themselves feeling blue.
 
Then, this kind of strange magic took place
And something changed in the human race:
 
People stopped doing; began to be;
Found joy at home with their family;
 
And soon everyone began to find
That they felt better by being kind.
 
As the pace of life grew super slow,
And no-one had anywhere to go,
 
They found they revelled in quietude;
Abandoned angst for a calmer mood;
 
That there was quite a lot to be said
For not rushing but still-ing, instead.
 
In towns grown silent, men heard birds sing;
Remembered, Nature’s a wondrous thing.
 
So few planes flew that, suddenly, trees
Were audible, rustling in the breeze;
 
 
Without boats’ motors, waves lapping land
Sighed in harmony with swishing sand.
 
Enjoying these sounds soothed troubled souls
And men forgot their achievement goals;
 
Without the need to consume or strive,
They learned to love just being alive.
 
So Man’s abuse of Earth got lighter;
Her skies grew clear, her sun shone brighter
 
And she started to regain her health,
No longer depleted of her wealth.
 
Swans swam up canals; fish flipped in seas,
Animals roamed roads, completely at ease.
 
Since no one travelled they quickly found
No need to burn oil from depleted ground
 
And tho’ men mourned consumerism,
Earth returned to her natural rhythm.
 
Whereas, before, she’d been scared, bereft;
Worried that soon she’d have nothing left,
 
Now she started to feel hope again.
“I sense some gain from humans’ pain:
 
 
“At least, they’ll finally understand
How to cherish their glorious land
 
And look after me the way they should!”
Earth smiled, “To me, this virus looks good”.