Poem: Death is not a statistic

In every news avenue

We are told of the numbers of the dead due to Covid-19 disease

We are not given a list of names

Whether they were fathers, mothers or grandparents

We are left to guess their age, gender or occupation

We are not told whether they were breadwinners

Or how many dependents they left behind

We are not given their social media profiles

Or their favourite sports, colours or clothes

We are left to guess if they were truly loved

We are bandaged with numbers after numbers

Not to heal our psyche

But to undress our most hidden fears

To display our vulnerabilities

And expose our weaknesses

We are given gigantic numbers

That can only tell half the story

It’s the story of humanity in distress

A story of immense suffering

A story of sorrow

It’s a story of pandemics

Diseases that consume the human psyche

Unfolding other causes of human suffering

Depression, gender based violence, suicide, poverty…etc

Death is not a statistic

It’s a tragedy

©Kenneth Maswabi