If we must confront death this year, let it not be due to neglect,  
Choking and gasping for breath,  
While the virus attacks our bodies  
Because some failed to follow the rules.  

If we must face our end, let it be from natural causes  
So our names do not become yet another  
Mark on the wall of the unfortunate.  
Oh, deception, take the vaccine!  

If I had cherished them sooner, I would have grieved harder,  
But in truth, they never loved me wholly, so I forget their kisses.  
The touch I could have treasured, the smiles that should have resonated—  
It costs too much to remember  
And too little to spark the love within me.  

To consider them freed by death is painful,  
You may think my coldness was my only way of loving them,  
Yet my warm hands remind me that I am alive.  
You couldn’t see my face as you faced your demise.  
I know they wish they had.