It was the eve of the new year of a new decade
People were getting ready to welcome 2020
Champagne corks were popping
Excitement was building aplenty

We expected 2020 to be a great year
NBA Championship for the Lakers
Summer Olympics, Presidential election,
World Series championship for the Dodgers

Then news started coming of a deadly virus
causing untold damage in the city of Wuhan
Predictably, virus spread to the West Coast
No one was quite sure what the virus had in plan

Hospitals unable to cope with rising cases
ICU beds and ventilators in short supply
Death toll mounting, the country went into lock-down
Feelings of fears, doom and gloom ran sky high

Gradually, situation started improving through the
Implementation of sound public health measures
Such as mask wearing and social distancing, though
cooped in at home, people missed life’s simple pleasures

Lockdown inflicted undue suffering and pain
on the population least able to cope
With loss of jobs came cash crunch and poverty
Seeing lives getting destroyed, people lost hope

Government tried to help financially
Federal Reserve made money cheap
Congress passed the CARES act
Which did help temporarily, but the price was steep

Congress and the White House could not agree
On a follow-up relief act, CARES-II
Peoples’ misery got entangled in politics
It was a callous dereliction through and through

Sadly, wearing of masks got weaponized
In the cultural war between the left and the right
Lack of role modeling and mocking at the top
made us look cavalier; it was not a pretty sight

As time passed, virus fatigue built-up
People started behaving recklessly
Slowly the infection rate started inching up
Situation started to get out of hand needlessly

2020 is the year when our daughter turned 40
big celebrations awaited this important milestone
Sadly, Corona virus disrupted all our plans
She had to celebrate the day all alone☹

A vaccine became available in December
But it will be a long while, population will have to be patient
till then the only remedy is masks and social distancing
Everyone will have to do its part; mustn’t get impatient