Death Comes with Quiet Footsteps

Death Comes with Quiet Footsteps


Silence was everywhere that winter.
Times Square boarded up, no tourists, virgin snow.
A feeling of dread had fallen over the city of bright lights.
Outside armed with a mask, I saw packs of rats run the nights.

No, children, this didn’t happen many years past.
Before 3-D Avenger movies, cool Play stations and podcasts.
It was the Covid 19 Pandemic that swept our world regions.
Shutting down cities, filling hospitals with the deathly demon.

We really thought our government was intact,
protecting us from any out side attack.
We always invested in weapons of destruction.
Our own germs were now masters of deadly dysfunction.

It started out slowly and no one wanted to hear.
Wear masks? Can’t breathe, look silly, voice is unclear.
Testing costs a lot of money, maybe this bug won’t come.
Could it be more than a flu? Sick a couple days, all done.

Disinformation brought down our beloved United States.
No one listened to scientists, a ridiculous costly mistake.
Kids, this was just half a century ago, study your history books.
It could happen again, catch all unaware, you need to know.

I watched bodies stacked in refrigerated trucks with tags.
Their families couldn’t say goodbye, all funerals lagged.
It was a nightmare, believe what I say, for many poor guys.
As a nurse, covered head to toe, holding an Ipad to say goodbye.

That scorched winter of 2020-2021 actually started a year before.
Winter is known as a time of barren wilderness, like a kind of war.
Covid covered the planet the preceding spring, sprouting quietly.
History judged us and our report card was substandard for humanity.

By Kathie Stehr
Jan 6, 2021