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