Corona Thief

The virus steals lives,
one man’s livelihood, another man’s wife,
knows no mercy. Hidden.
Scientists, geniuses, know nothing.
Epidemiologists, police –
no one catches him.

He’s democratic, grabs artists, bankers, anybody,
nurses, Native Americans, African Americans,
policemen, prime ministers. He steals away
the self esteem of people who have lost their jobs,
of people who can’t feed their children.
Will no one put this thief away?

Science and government might have had a chance,
but they’re at war. Wars steal lives.
Will no one make the scoundrel pay?

Too many people are dying,
and hospital workers have to steal
the role of God, to say who lives
and who will die.

Jane Marla Robbins is a National Endowment of the Arts Poetry Grant Finalist and author of Poems of the Laughing Buddha, and Dogs in Topanga, 2000 - 2018. Her play, Reminiscences of Mozart by his Sister, commissioned by the Kennedy Center, was performed there and at Lincoln Center. Read other articles by Jane Marla.