The Raging Corona Virus

What a fair day it was, on this first morn of creation,
With all of Nature in smooth relation!
Comet and planet encircling the Lord of their space,
Some with their moons to ad to their grace.
Each one of them luminous, steadily bright,
Making us wonder at beauty at night.
The Bible, the Scriptures, speak of them at length.
The Sages of old studied stars at great length.
The secret hand of a hidden Creator
Leaves everywhere its deep impression.
Yes, though discreet, the Creator’s hand us everywhere seem,
A fact divine where He has been.
Man Everlasting worked harmonious with God.
Man with Nature’s world was as one where’re he trod
No rupture was at this time anywhere found
Between mankind and the living world around.
For many thousand years that succeeded his creation,
Steadfastly he followed up his onward evolution.
After long prehistory came the great classic days
Nothing seemed to limit mankind’s various ways.
Technique and art and science, advance of every kind,
Everything went forward under guidance of the mind.
There were ancient cities flowering in the East
Which passed their wisdom down by scientist and priest,
And also the great heroes, men skillful in arts of war,
Spread a better living than men had known before.
With education, medicine, and learning far and wide,
There was spreading of culture, greater ease of life.
Hannibal, Julius Cesar made a world in the West,
Alexander the Conqueror did the same in the East.
Great civilizations rose and flourished,
In mind and body Man was nourished.
From Ur of the Chaldeans down to our present day,
There was progress and improvement in every possible way.
Advance came in social science, agriculture went ahead,
Men no longer had to fear how they could earn their bread.

Two thousand years ago in a small Judean town
The seeds of our redemption there were newly sown
And all around the world Christ’s Mystic Body’s grown.
Not in Palestine alone the Gospel we can hear
And so the looming gates of Hell no longer make us fear.
The Gospel shows God’s mercy and His Goodness we embrace
Until that glorious consummation when we see Him face to face.
We learnt what God has helped while we are still on Earth
Reaching u up to Heaven from the moment of our birth.
Our knowledge ever deepens of the Truth that He inspired
And ever more His Wisdom is by us men desired.
But many have not listened to Christ’s voice
And they have made an evil choice.
But God is also Justice, something we must fear,
And if we value not his Mercy, neglect can cost us dear.

Early in two-twenty terror swept this charming scene,
When virus swept the world where health and joy had been.
Not only was the Third World a victim of the plague,
But the richest of the nations knew its fearful rage.
Something never seen before, it spread on every hand,
It swept across the oceans and entered every land.
In vain lands put up barriers to stop the quickening spread,
All that people there could do was wit with greater dread.
Europe, South America, the great United States,
They tried to block all entry by the closing of their gates.
Folk fought the creeping virus by means that they knew best
But the weak and the elderly went to their final rest.
When a million were touched, the plague spread on until
The hospitals were full of victims that were ill.
People stayed confined while hoping for an end,
Boredom was the problem with which they must contend.
There was no joy in Holy Week
With empty churches, mournful, bleak;
Some clergy at the altar stayed to carry out their task,
But their chanting and their prayers were muffled by a mask.
May Heaven’s anger be appeased without long delay
May Mankind be true to God and be not led astray.
Our Lady we must turn with recollection
Asking her to keep our land under her protection.

Joseph Matar – English adaptation by Kenneth Mortimer