“We are the virus, and the Earth is learning
To breathe again! She felt that she would drown
In all the smoke and poison hanging round
From everything our species had been burning!
And now she’s healing: Dolphins are returning
To Venice! Mountain goats are coming down
Out of the hills to frolic in the town!
She’s cleansing herself!” What is with this yearning
To frame Coronavirus as a cure,
And millions dead a blessing? Don’t they know:
The poor will die. The oil barons will thrive?
And Earth is not some maiden, sweet and pure
Pandemics and pollution? They have no
Effect on rock: it’s we who won’t survive.
Tom Juniper Poetry 