A Time Of Irritations Summer 2020 Poem by Shalom Freedman

More than ever this summer
A time of irritations
Prolonged heat waves
Mosquito bites all the time
A child's transmitted lice infection
Ugly red blotches that itch like hell
Shingles not uncommon in old age
And post- herpetic neuralgia as a kicker
Renewed coronavirus threat
The masks the closure the not being able to go so many places
One took for granted going to
The threat all the time and the endless uncertainty
Praying not to give what one does not know one has or does not have
To others
Fearing where one goes that someone's stray breath will give it to me
Anger at the non- mask wearers
Contempt and puzzled admiration for the safe ones who never go out
Disturbance at the dysfunctional government the angry demonstrations
A free world divided and its leading nation torn internally and perhaps falling apart
Old friends and acquaintances too sick to be seen and dying
Sadness at the life made more difficult for so many the children the grandchildren
Worry about the unemployed the businesses shut down
So many losing so much they will never get back
And as always, the threats of fanatical enemies whose messianic dreams
Are our destruction
Too much going wrong at once
Waiting for the cool days to come again
And for the virus threat to pass
And for some semblance of order in the world
And only able to wait and do nothing
And writing these lines also
The futile confession of the unread writer
Also irritated at that
Though at least it does not itch.