Aotearoa

It’s so strange to be so bored, so angry and so anxious, all at the same time
Situation untenable, whether you want to call it tragedy or crime
The past seems so distant, so foreign, and so very, very long ago
Just as distant as the future which seems so impossible to know

It’s so strange how fast the days go by, each one harder than the last
So bizarre to look around and see nothing that remotely resembles the past
Then I glance at the TV, see the places where the virus met defeat
People all breathing out in the open, together in the street

And I wish I were in Aotearoa, in Wellington walking in the rain
Or on the shores of Motueka, or somewhere this contagion was contained

It’s so strange to try to make some sense of all the different lives that people lead
So many children who go to bed hungry, in such desperate need
So many others just wishing they could open the door and crawl out from their hole
Get back to the lives they once had that the lockdown stole

Chorus

It’s so strange to be looking at the flames as they’re moving ever closer to the city
To see the roadways clogged with cars full of escaping refugees
So many people trying to pass the time as they’re waiting for their cue
To be burned or flooded or evicted or intubated, wondering what to do

Chorus

It’s so strange to be so bored, so angry and so anxious, all at the same time