Covid-19 (N0. 5)

“Hugs and prayers and fasting”*, such Orthodox

Devotions set to tempt a partial god

To give our species of DNA the nod

Over a contrary strand, which unlocks

The cells of our isolation. When shocks

And calamities, suddenly insurgent,

Press in upon us from all sides, they dent

Man-made certainties, and our world rocks.

Adversity is proportioned by clocks

And in the time taken for it to pass

We are vulnerable to what’s thrown at us,

As hapless churls in medieval stocks.

Faith is better placed in vaccines and drugs

Than prescriptions for fasting, prayers and hugs.

                                                                                                                                  Dave Alton

*Response to Corvid-19 by an Orthodox church in the Ukraine, as reported on BBC Radio 4’s “Today” (14^th April, 2020)