Possibilities: La Couronne (Part I)

Posted: Thursday Apr 23, 2020

Virions, under an electron microscope, resemble a crown.
An artist’s soft-hued roses and golds,
belie the sinister underbelly, the forked tongue.

Everything suddenly looks a whole lot different;

An elderly woman inclined over
walking frame, inches down supermarket aisles
in search of weekly staples,

not agile enough to dodge another’s cough
nor equipped to stockpile
or prepare for viral war.

Champagne, a meal out and flowers- distant luxuries;
today’s best offering is paid sick-leave,
a white mask, a can or two of beans thrown in.

Forgo the hug, the kiss,
the meet up, the get together.
The new kindness

is keeping a distance,
restraining the arms,
extending the heart.

Everything suddenly looks a whole lot different;