September 11, When Can We Unite? (free verse)

September 11, When Can We Unite?

If we can’t unite for the common good,

Our health and well-being, then when can we unite?

September eleventh, two thousand one,

An act of terror brought us together.

Covid nineteen killed two hundred times more

But this common threat drives us further apart.

We’re fighting over life-saving vaccine,

Protecting each other, and wearing a mask.

As Walt Kelly’s Pogo said, long ago,

“We have met the enemy, and he is us.”

In this fight over science, masks, and vaccine,

Belligerent stupidity has taken hold.

Who’d think our health could be politicized?

And cost as many lives as the Civil War?

As many lives as the nineteen eighteen flu?

God commanded, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” (1)

Jews, Christians, and Muslims worship this One God,

By different names, in different languages.

But, in translation, these words mean the same.

So, why do we ignore them? Our lives are at stake,

Hundreds and hundreds of thousands of lives.

The virus and ourselves, the enemy,

And, tragically, it’s no anomaly.