Novel Human Illness

Everything is quickly changing
Social lives are rearranging
Stopping time will not contain it
Staying in may help us tame it
Butterflies continue flying
Right above the panicked crying

Some of us may think we’re special
But this illness proves us reckless
Many make their efforts known
Some act only for their own

While a certain, careful few
Day by day they grow –and you
See them shining from the trenches
They keep rising from the benches

Say it’s time to face the game
Which itself is the wrong name
For what’s happening among us
Is no game or trick to fool us
But a tragic realization
That we’re mortal and need saving

Anna Shvartsur is a graduate of the University of Utah School of Medicine class of 2020. She studied microbiology, immunology and genetics as an undergraduate at UCLA. Outside of medicine, she enjoys swimming, sand volleyball, playing the ukulele and eating dessert. 

Rubor Participation:
2020 Poem, "Novel Human Illness"
2020 Poem, "Anniversary Day - Based on a Conversation"
2019 Poem, "The Words We Use"
2019 Poem, "Bye Bye Baby"
2017 Poem, "Undo"