Covid-19 Says - "No Christmas For You" Poem by Jacson Gelato

Children running around in their homes
trying to make cribs and decorate their Xmas trees;
families mounting stars and setting up lights
to illuminate their houses and feel a merriment.
"No" - says coronavirus - "no",
no Christmas for you,
no Christmas for you, my dear;
and since it is so cold out there
stay indoors or I am here to clasp you.

No Christmas for you
no Christmas for anyone, my dear
as everyone has always been
so proud and hardhearted;
it is time to be different henceforth
it is time to be meek and modest hereafter.

When Christmas has come
at the end of every year,
you have always been so joyous and cheerful;
you have always been so egoistic
you have always been so engrossed with your own pleasures
you have always been so involved
with your own joys and satisfaction.

And though sometimes you might have extended
some kindness to a beggar by tossing a few coins
at his feet in the alley,
you have never cared to think of the poor and the needy
after you have reached your home;
you have never cared to think of those people
sleeping on the streets,
you have never cared to share your roof
with those living in the ghettos.

And though you have always eaten plentiful
and a varieties of foods,
you have never thought or imagined
of those empty stomachs of the poor
which recoil with hunger due to their penury;
and though their homes have been those slums
or their roofs have been those plastic sheets,
you have chosen to ignore their plight
and think it is not your concern.

So no Christmas for you
no Christmas for you, my dear
as you have never retained
the continuity of your generosity
even when you were blessed and saturated
with all your own dreams and desires.

And as you lived by your ego and your own aspirations,
you never cared to be helpful to those in distress;
you have always been so discriminating;
so I am here to show you equality:
to show you the bed you sleep on
is next to the bed your neighbor sleeps on
when you are there in the hospital fighting me.

I am here to show you impartiality
that in the same way that your neighbor
wears his face mask,
you have to wear your face mask, too;
and until I am around
no Christmas for you,
no Christmas for you my dear
until a green light signals you that I am gone
and the road is clear for you to carry on your life.

And as you will see those Christmas trees
all lighted up in your streets,
you will still have fear in your heart
that I may infect you.
Yes, I am the picture and the reflection
of life and struggle,
I am the virus that makes you hide like a tortoise
in your own home, in your own shelter
and that is why I am here as a virus to tell you
and everyone around you whether young or old.

No Christmas for you,
unless you change, unless you reform
and unless you promise that in your future
you will never be selfish or unconcerned,
and that you willalways respect humanity consistently;
and above all you will take it upon you to revere God
with faithfulness and sincere devotion
as God alone has the power to eliminate me
and give you that chance to live freely again.