The Sum of Us

Some of us were working to keep progress on the road

While some of us were working on the tests

Some of us were aching for we carried heavy loads

While some of us were just doing our best

Some of us were working hard to keep us safe and fed

Some of us were locked down in our homes

Some of us were making masks and others baking bread

Some of us were bored down to our bones

Some of us were sewing scrubs and some were sowing seeds

Some were stitching fragments into plans

Some were holding Zoom meetings with babies on our knees

Some were holding only lonely hands

Some of us were shattered working day and night

Some of us our jobs had died a death

Some of us were drawing coloured rainbows shining bright

Some of us were drawing our last breath

When we summon up the sum of all our strengths

And we multiply the sum of us will go to any lengths

Now, oh, just do the maths

Some of us shared photographs of where and who we'd been

Some of us were keen and fresh and young

Some of us were singing 'Happy Birthday' into screens

Some of us were weeping as it's sung

Some of us were living with an illness and a fear

Some of us were living on our phones

Some of us were living without all that we held dear

Some of us were living on our own

When we summon up the sum of all our strengths

And we multiply the sum of us will go to any lengths

Now, oh, just do the maths

For some of us the sum of us has always been the need

For some of us the sum of us the hope

For some of us the sum of us is lesser than our greed

With some of us just left to try and cope

Some of us are wealthy, some of us are poor

Some of us can buy a magic pill

But some of us know some of us won't cut it anymore

If some of us are sick we all are ill

When we summon up the sum of all our strengths

And we multiply the sum of us will go to any lengths

Oh, just do the maths