THE ONCE AND FUTURE OUTLAWS

By: Roland Crevecoeur Jr., M.D.

For a thousand years or even more

this test of wills is sacred lore.

Many have come and passed before

to make one side cry….."Nevermore!”

For they were here before the dawn

and now their world has nearly gone.

They would adopt as best they could

but pledged one day they surely would….

“REIN AGAIN” and rid their world

of threats now known and those yet hurled.

For they were bugs, virus, and germs

impelled to live on their own terms.

They met one day, I think in June

in the old Sick Room Saloon.

They drank and sang with a jamming band

then buckled down for the work at hand.

They gathered to discuss their plight

to reconcile or brace to fight.

What to do with humankind

the smart new pestilence with a mind.

As in all things, two camps emerged

with weaker voices quickly purged.

One group wished to live in peace

the other “WAR” to say the least.

“Kill or be killed is Natures Law.

Swallow that hard or drink it raw.

We best T.Rex and all their crew

humans can’t be worse to do.

But they can study all our tricks.

We’ll beat them still and just for kicks.

Don’t we have spies who know them well?

Who live and breathe their every smell?

Who know just when to initiate

to pass on life and germinate?

You credit them with too much wit.

They trust in tales and have no grit.

But don’t you think one day they’ll learn

and maybe we will all get burned?

Not a chance for collective actions

Humans split on different passions.

Those in the know are often few.

So there won’t be much work to do.”

They planned attacks at varied stages.

Epidemics and plagues throughout the ages.

Fearful people made things worse

rejecting facts they believed were cursed.

They fought each other killing hundreds more

saving the germs from their work of gore.

But as foretold some sensed the cause

and applied the scene with science laws.

Ignorance ebbed and word soon spread,

then far fewer humans were dropping dead.

And as was feared lessons were learned

and many a bug indeed were burned.

Vaccines and sprays did do them in

but they rallied how one day they’d win.

So, the germs would hide and wait it out

‘til humans slipped by casting doubt.

And when this came the few bugs left

rushed out from hiding a force bereft.

Thousands would dies when COVID controlled.

A feat that stemmed from the lost of patrol.

Despite the onslaught doubt remained

on exactly who caused this blight and its pain.

They feared vaccines conjurred in haste

as surely, these contained mistakes.

Still others grew more credule

and tampered with known schedules.

But while they mused, they became new food

a deed achieved by the multitude…

of tiny beasts too small to see

lead by outlaws, fearlessly.

This survival game we may just lose

if we don’t know quite what to choose.

For Immunity wanes escaping the herd

like a quiet wind on a whispered word.

And like the past we should recall

we can succumb and maybe fall.

As bugs regroup perhaps to attack,

They threatened when leaving,

“We will be back!”

So, beware of these small,

yet deadly fiends.

Especially now as its….

HALLOWEEN!