Rampage

When Coronavirus met Heat Wave,
It was love at first sight,
Bonnie and Clyde-style--
Life cheap, compassion nil.

Daytimes,
They’d joyride around town,
Honking their horn, jeering,
Flaunting the heat they packed,
Testing the patience
Of those waiting for testing
In idling cars in sunbaked lines.

Nighttimes,
Consuming and consumed,
Drunk on the day’s gains
In death and despair,
They’d couple feverishly,
Breaking old bedframes
And new records.

They needed stopping. 

So we marched and masked,

Demanded, tasked.  

But we had no leverage.

There was no deal to be cut:

Those who’d paved their 

     ways
Were above the law,
And we knew it.*

* This poem was revised on July 27, 2020, after I considered some comments and questions offered by a discerning poetry reader who's also a good friend. It's former title was "Rampage: A Pandemic Poem;" its third stanza formerly began with the following three lines: "They needed stopping./ We had the will and the means,/ But not the leverage."

Photos:

"Bonnie and Clyde in March 1933 in a photo found by police at an abandoned hideout": Photo accompanying Bonnie and Clyde. (2020, July 16). Retrieved July 17, 2020, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_and_Clyde#/media/File:Bonnieclyde_f.jpg 

"Cars line up to enter SeaWorld as it reopens, on June 11, in Orlando, Fla. The park had been closed since mid-March to stop the spread of the coronavirus."  Photo by John Raoux/AP accompanying Allen, G. (2020, June 16). Florida Officials Spar Over Rising COVID-19 Cases. Retrieved July 17, 2020, from https://www.wbur.org/npr/878932911/florida-officials-spar-over-rising-covid-19-cases