THE WUHAN VIRUS | A POEM

In November came an alert
There was a new pneumonic strain
The researcher who saw it first
Rang bells but it was all in vain

For the local authorities
It was more important to hide
“Rumours” and let the CCP
The politics of it decide

The Party wedded to the goal
Of not letting the public know
More than it should to keep control
Let danger from the virus grow

For weeks the CCP suppressed
The evidence in front of it
The health hazard was not addressed
Steps needed did China omit

With coming break of Lunar Year
When Chinese in millions disperse
The Party thought that it would clear
With its own means the Wuhan curse.

And knowing well the risks involved
It let thousands travel at will
With infection threats unresolved
Furthered a continental spill

Now, with the virus uncontrolled
No room was left to obfuscate
It knew the world had to be told
But with view to manipulate

With China in the UNO
Being second biggest donor now
It used as tool the WHO
And knew that its DG would bow

To dictates- the body receives
Large contributions from Beijing
And DG everyone perceives
The Chinese tune will gladly sing

Elected with China’s support
His country chained with Chinese aid
The DG was ready to report
The virus-story China-made:

No need to impose a flight ban
An epidemic it was not
Infect through human chain it can?
Not so the Chinese experts thought

We need an independent probe
Into the manner China acted
In putting in danger the globe
With tragedy it has enacted

Li Wenliang who identified
The virus first and silenced was
By CCP, he himself died
Victim of political cause

Of making the leaders look good
E’en if people in thousands die
A system governed by falsehood
Without compunction it can lie

And now under our very eyes
China seeks change of narrative
To disown source in Wuhan lies
Is seen as an imperative

It got WHO to name
So that for all time it’s not seen
Pandemic’s source to its great shame
The virus as COVID-19

China’s searching novel sources
From where virus might have emerged
Hinting at the US forces
All ploys how its sins can be purged

By detecting it early on
It says it helped the world to fight
The canker while not too far gone
Bought time for coping with this blight

Its propaganda arm at play
With a cynicism profound
It claims only scientists can say
After debate how it was found

Should Trump it “Wuhan virus” call
Or Bolsonaro’s son should dare
To say it’s Chinese, heavens fall
In China where wild tempers flare

When its Ambassadors abuse
So viciously at those who may
In full truth quite rightly accuse
The CCP, they’re told they’ll pay

Moves in UNSC to mount
Pressure on China to come clean
They can’t China’s veto surmount
And get a meeting to convene

Not sharing data is the key
And China as source has the prime
To be first with a remedy
It will make billions in quick time

The G 7 could not agree
On naming Wuhan as the source
To keep channels to China free
G 20 didn’t the issue force

Faced with such a calamity
The urge is to cooperate
But reckoning there is bound to be
As feelings of anger and hate

Against China will lasting be
With conscious efforts to reduce
Dependence as clear strategy
With steps to more at home produce

China’s politics being opaque
Its rise will always be a threat
The world has to in future take
All steps to not be in its debt

Their devious game is understood
Having first unleashed the pandemic
The Chinese now want to look good
With hypocrisy that’s endemic

By coming to their victims aid
With tons of masks- and see the quirk
They will do profiteering trade
With testing kits that do not work

They have the gumption to propose
The “health silk road” inanity
And in their hubris so disclose
Their contempt for humanity

China’s Middle Kingdom syndrome
Is state of mind that must be cured
For that it must be driven home
It will no longer be endured

To make the Chinese leaders pay
For letting loose this deadly scourge
A Wuhan tax would be a way
So that China its sins can purge

Tax on Chinese exports will be
With a fund keeping all proceeds
A source of special subsidy
To spend on the economic needs

Of populations in distress
Under international control
To make the pain they suffer less
And supplement the World Bank's role

To be seen as reparations
For the grave damage inflicted
To societies in all nations
On scale none could have predicted

The world must now have the mission
As tough as the challenge may seem
To curb China’s gross ambition
To realise its hegemonic Dream!