At a Crossroads?

Job and structure loss,

worsened by vast disruptions

frays stability.

Stripped of jobs and means,

workers crave restoration

of earning power.

To survive and grow.

firms strive for financial strength,

light-touch oversight.

Product shortages

disrupt supplies and pricing,

needing correction.

Essential worker

income inequality 

tests priorities.

Poverty's role in

survival disparities

challenges fairness.

Still stunned consumers

staggering from brutal loss,

refrain from spending.

Healthcare providers

seared by unrelenting stress

step back to restore.

The economy,

missing strong participants,

fails to reopen.

Civic leaders caught

by a partisan divide

strain at consensus.

Stressed social contract

invites appraisal to gain

a broad renewal.

Unfolding events

mired in deep uncertainty,

straddle fear and hope.