Plague Doctor

 

One thing this plague has taught us

Is that close proximity can be lethal

You could be a carrier of ideas

Asymptomatic in their spread

Just your unthoughtful actions

Triggering others to violence

 

You could infringe on the personal space

Of other people’s beliefs

Carelessly trampling over them

By thinking only of your own gratification

Endangering the rule of law

By flouting common respect

 

Or maybe you show all the symptoms

Of the fever and the disease

Wantonly passing on the rabid curse

Not keeping your mouth covered

Exhaling the vitriolic cocktail

Of ignorant and misinformed bile

 

In these troubled times

When plague doctors stalk our streets

And death follows in their tread

Sometimes the best course

Is not to pass on the poison words

To break the chain of infection