Essential Worker

From the window of my car
I see the destruction of Covid-19
While doing my delivery job.

I see
The many victims of this
Vicious disease:

Old disabled men
Asking for a handout
While scared patrons
Run by.

Nursing homes
That are guarded
Like fortresses
From outsiders and
Old people with fear
In their eyes.

People quarantined
In their homes
Who can’t get along
Arguing on the streets

People
Without jobs
And isolation
Isolation
Isolation.

I deliver food to houses
Where people linger inside
Who have had no contact
With the outside world
For sometime.

Yesterday I received
A letter on a doorstep
That they are
“Healthy and Safe”

And I left a little slice of
Comfort on their doorstep
In the form of pizza.

2020 Isolation

The devil brewed a dish
And unleashed it upon the world
A slice of mortality
For all the world to experience
At once,

But
The most lethal
Aspect of the virus
Is that it divides us.

Each day
I yearn for a hug or touch
To placate me,
A smile to serenade me,
A kiss on the cheek
To appease me,
A hospitable voice
To greet me,

Yet I receive none.