COVID-19 Soliloquy

To mask or not to mask – Is that the question?
Whether ‘tis nobler in public to suffer
The inconvenience of government orders,
Or to bare face before a sea of people,
And by opposing risk them: to die, to weep;
No care; and by this act to say we end
The sacrifice and thousand irksome pangs
That we were subject to? ‘Tis rebellion
Selfishly to be wished. To endanger,
Perchance to kill; aye, there’s the rub,
For in pain of others, what guilt may come,
If they shuffled off this mortal coil,
Should give us pause. Is there respect
That makes sacred and dear all human life?
For who would demand their whims and comfort,
Their vanity’s relief, their free man’s choice,
The encouragement of a stranger’s smile,
The religious shelter of their beliefs
That neglects other unblessed heathens,
When they themselves might our safety protect
With mere cloth mask? Who not the burden bear,
To care and think beyond their selfish want,
But that the fear of endless quarantine,
The undetermined future, chafes kindness
To its most slender and close dimensions,
And focus on the more immediate
Than feel for others that we know not of.
Thus unease slightly loosened begs for more,
And the strength of our forced resolution
Is weakened by the thought of its return,
And social efforts of import and merit,
With this failure, their purpose goes awry,
And lose the rank of hero. Lo, watch out,
Here are the police. Cop, in your handcuffs,
Be all my breath exhaled.