We’re In This Together (Ballad of Covid-19)

I’ll tell you a story, although
It’s one that you already know
It only started a few months back
When a new flu virus began to attack
The bodies of human beings
People were shocked by what they were seeing
Getting sick, moving past
It was time to act, and act fast

The Chinese people mobilized
The world watched with wide open eyes
A hospital built in ten days flat
In Wuhan City, in the Year of the Rat
In the Year of Solidarity
When whatever your ideology
All that remained was the simple call
An injury to one is an injury to all

We’re in this together, that’s the score
As with this virus, and so much more
From South Africa to Iran
From New York to Wuhan

The virus spread everywhere
Through the droplets in the air
Contained in China, but overseas
With every airplane, every cough or sneeze
It became clear, just a bit too late
In the western capitalist states
Collective action is what we need
Not your mansions or your greed

Landlords and tenants, poor and rich
In the same boat, ain’t that a bitch
Suddenly all the world’s wealth
Won’t protect the public health
Unless all the public has a patch of land
Where they can isolate and wash their hands
Now even the careless have to care
Since we’re all breathing the same air

We’re in this together, that’s the score
As with this virus, and so much more
From Kenya to Iran
From Venice to Wuhan

The future now is yet unwritten
What will become of these politicians
Who sold their stocks when they knew
What the state was going to have to do
Who had to act, but did so so late
The time was now, but they’d hesitate
Batten the hatches, count your beans
And find out what “exponential” means

In the aftermath, with millions dead
Might our species somehow come out ahead?
A teachable moment, if there ever was one
The same Earth, the same moon, the same sun
The same water, the same air
The same blood, the same skin, the same hair
The same feelings, the same desire
The same world, underwater or on fire

We’re in this together, that’s the score
As with this virus, and so much more
From Argentina to Iran
From Portland to Wuhan