Remember When

Author: Angela Selzer, MD

Remember when they cheered for us?

When they clapped their hands for us?

Flew over, drove by and cheered for us?

We were terrified and tired but they appreciated us.

Now they jeer at us.

Refuse a free vaccine to endanger us.

Argue and protest and sneer at us.

Then get sick and, in fear, come back to us.

Gasping for air as they plead with us.

We ignore the hate to be with them.

Always provide the best care for them.

Though a vaccine alone could have kept them at home. We fight for their lives and again risk our own.

How much longer can we do this?

It’s not clear to us.

They don’t care for us.

Remember when they cheered for us?

About the author: Angela Selzer, MD, is an anesthesiologist at the University of Colorado School of Medicine. The views represented in this poem are entirely her own. (Twitter: @selzer_angela)