To Those Left Behind

(My poem is done in Mixed Rhyme which is a form created right here on PoetrySoup by our fellow poet, Ernesto Santiago.) Things will get worse! Year after year, of course. Spend some time planning survival, don't be blind, don't live in denial. This message is for the Milliennials, the one's who were left behind, the ones who lost parents and grandparents, but you have survived, it's just not your time. You bore the weight of the world, carried the existence of mankind, raised children you did not bare, taught them to be loving and kind. Teach them also to be smart! Please, learn from our mistakes, cherish and respect the Earth. There is so much in nature that strikes back at destruction. Mankind aware, or unaware. Viruses mutate. It's not a fantastical thought. The Bird Flu, the Swine Flu, SARS and MERS, and yes, death is what they brought. Same virus, growing stronger year after year, mutating over and over, now COVID-19 is here. It's half life is more than three hours when expelled in aerosol form, not the larger droplets, which are here today, deadly, but tomorrow may be gone. Next year it may return airborne. Please, listen to our sorrow, if you want to call it that. One after another the virus takes us, yet we are grateful for your tomorrows. We have had many years to prepare, on our journey back to God. Knowing your lives will be spared is the only consolation this virus brought. It's hard for hearts to heal after such massive loss, and getting through the grief can be rough, but we left without complaint because we love you, let that be enough... to heal your broken hearts.