You came and life on Earth had to cease
You exterminate lots of lives
RIP to those who lost their lives
Parents lost their jobs
Hunger stench in homes like an odour
There’s food deprivation

I miss life in the township
The things I used to do with my friends in the township,
Where during the week students mash to school
Parents race to get to work
The home of hustlers
Where taxis hoot in the morning
And the new has begun
That long queue at the taxi rank
Sun filled the shacks with warmth
Mothers sweeping the yards to welcome the sunrise
Those weekends where we were united by a soccer match

Now we face lockdown blues
Following the rules
Short of PPEs
There’s no more school
There’s no more soccer games
All we do is eat sleep
That’s all I can do in a shack
Trying to find a routine, anxiety tags along with fear
All I do is hope for this to pass too

But corona this is my message from me to you
You are not the alpha and omega of pandemics.
There was a flu pandemic in 1918, the Black Death in 1346,
Plague of Justinian, Ebola in 1976 and HIV/AIDS
But we learned to outlive

From me to South Africa: coronavirus kills and it’s real
Let’s wash our hands regularly with soap or use sanitiser,
Stay at home, wear a mask
For us to have a rainbow I need your colour,
Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, stay at home