“W E H A V E M O U R N E D the year __(year)__ of this age. But now we realize it was only the beginning of mourning and this strange force of evil, unheard of through the ages, has not ceased since then, ready to strike on all sides, to the right and left like a most skilled fighter. So after sweeping across _____(place or country)___________ several times, now that no part is left unharmed, it has struck some regions twice, thrice and four times, and ruined some with annual sickness. […] Where are now our sweet friends, where their beloved faces, their soothing words, their mild and pleasing company? What thunderbolt has devoured these joys, what earthquake overthrown them, what storm submerged them, what abyss opened to swallow them? We were close together; now we are almost alone.”
Options, just from the last two centuries, to fill in the blanks above: 1978 – Argentina (the peak of kidnappings and disappearances due to military persecutions), 1983 and onward – U.S and the world (casualties to HIV/AIDS), 1993-1995 – Bosnia Herzegovina (ethnic cleansing) 2003 – Western Sudan (the Darfur genocide), 2013-2016 – Western Africa (Ebola outbreak), 2020 – “the whole world”.
The above “mad lib” was written by Petrarch, the Italian poet and humanist, in 1348, the peak year of the Black Death, the “pestifera mortalità,” the bubonic plague that ravaged Europe and killed half its population. And now your turn for the “mad lib” we are living: 1. Can you relate to some or all of what he is lamenting? 2. What’s your individual projected date for this pandemic to be over? 3. What is the most important thing you are missing or had to cancel because of Covid-19? Can’t wait for your answers!
—New York City, 8/4/2020