When the virus came

—Fear rising—

Higher than the sun;

Its silent invisibility—

Advancing without

      permission or inhibition:

Ignoring borders—

Making Doubter’s cough,

And burn…

 ……and sometimes die…

Their losses fueling:

10,000 merchants—

Monsters

      selling only anxiety—

For sick & twisted purpose…

What was Ignored:

Now occupies their “news,”

Hoarding paper products:

A comedy of conclusions—

The fodder of jokes:

A precious medicine shared,

Between friends & family:

Allowing laughter,

Where only stress could grow…

When the virus came:

From crowded couches—

Locked down voices sang—

Filling empty streets

      with echoing beauty:

Separated but not broken,

Their uncompromising

      Spirit driving them past:

A virus and its victims—

—Those heroes—

Sacrificed to teach—

A lesson of love past idols;

Of prophets over profit,

Of people over game,

Their hearts & eyes opened—

Seeing through borders

     into an infinite Grace:

The Gift that teaches—

Lessons only Love can grasp:

And… Live… to teach:

The children—

 Born as time passed by…

When the virus came:

Leaving us

       with Life past Darwin,

For we are not dead,

We breathe,

We plan,

We dance:

A dance—

That takes us ‘round a world,

And into Space—

Only to discover:

Home is where we touch,

And happiness:

Is simply what we choose.

–by Richard E. Palmquist, DVM, GDVCHM, ACCHVM, March 2020.