Those who think we are over-reacting
Would do well
To remember the story
Of the Chessboard and the King
As a reward, the inventor of chess
Asked the king for
One grain of wheat on the first square
Two grains of wheat on the second square
Four grains of wheat on the third square
And so on
The number of grains doubling
With each succeeding square
His ministers advised him against it, but
The king quickly calculated
To the end of the first row
Found the number of grains
To be a couple of hundred
Thought the inventor
To be mad or a fool
And agreed
Had he kept his word
He would have bankrupted his kingdom
Indeed stripped the whole world bare
So long as there are populations
On each succeeding square of the chessboard
This coronavirus will infect them
If there is some precaution
You think you should take today
You should have taken it last week