A free adaptation by Rev. Osy Nuesch, with apologies to Theodor Geisel
Every Pleaser down in Pleasantville Bay liked Easter a lot.
But the Covid who lived just north of Pleasantville Bay (in NYC, probably) did not!
The Covid-19 hated Easter! The whole Lent, Easter and Pentecost cycle!
Now, please do not ask why. No one quite knows the reason.
But staring down from its cave with an invisible, pandemic frown
at the homes shining with the reflection of the latest Netflix show,
19 knew every Pleaser down in Pleasantville Bay beneath
was bored having already cleared every closet and finished every puzzle.
“I must keep Easter from coming!” The Covid-19 said.
“For, tomorrow, I know is the first Sunday after the first full moon,
after the Spring Equinox and all the Pleaser girls and boys
will wake up bright and early… and then! Oh, the noise!
Oh, the noise of Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!
And they’ll sing! And they’ll sing, sing, sing!
They'll stand 6 feet apart, staring at their smart phones.
They'll stand with their hands freshly washed and those Pleasers will start singing!"
And the more 19 thought of this Easter sing,
the more the Covid-19 thought “I must stop this whole thing!”
Then it slithered and slunk, with a smile most unpleasant,
around the whole country it went taking every piece that pleasers prized.
"All those special services," it poisoned, "are the first things to go!"
But it didn’t stop there:
it took the choirs and the trumpets,
the Great Easter Vigil and the white lilies,
their Holy Communion and Coffee Hour,
their passing of the peace with their hugs and kisses.
But on Easter morning, there was a noise.
and the Covid-19 put a capsid around its enclosed nucleic acid
and it did hear a sound rising over the ocean.
It started in low, then it started to grow.
But this sound wasn't sad! Why, this sound sounded glad!
19 hadn't stopped Easter from coming! It came!
Somehow or other, it came just the same!
And the Covid-19 stood puzzling and puzzling. "How could it be so?
It came without rehearsals! It came without hymnals!
It came without family dinners, flowery dresses or Easter baskets!"
19 puzzled and puzzled till its puzzler was sore.
Then the Covid-19 thought of something it hadn't before.
Maybe Easter, it thought, doesn't come from flowering bulbs.
Maybe Easter, perhaps, means a little bit more!
Peace!
Pastor Osy
