The Shadow of the Plague

The wind is a torrent of tumult among the budding green,

The sky is a shroud of foreboding over the dreary scene:

The world is a well of confusion regarding the time of day,

And silence hangs like a burden,

A leaden, cumbersome burden,

The minutes march with a burden  

As April seeps into May.

 

The birds are abreast in the branches without a warble to share,

The cities are curiously crawling with lions and tigers and bears.

O my, Nature moves to reconquer the earth that’s rightfully hers,

And people watch from their windows,

Stricken with awe at their windows,

Their breath smearing fog on the windows,

While clad in comforters.

 

They knew not what they were doing, then failed to sound the alarm,

They let it scatter like mushrooms, now they’re exposed to its harm.

The notion that it was nothing made their words and actions vague,

Now the populace is dropping,

Economies are stopping,

And all are panic-shopping

In the shadow of the plague.

 

For days they’ve been sequestered, for weeks they’ve stayed at home,

For months they’ve been prohibited to go outside and roam.

They daily sink into madness and nightly to Heaven extend

Their prayers for absolution,

Their wants for restitution,

Their hopes for some solution

To this affliction end.

-EDP

Reviews

[Mauricio Montoya]

I love this piece especially (as April seep into May) and just as hope open a new day, More bad news of doom, and your ending open my eyes to, we need to find a cure. Thank you for sharing

[emipoemi]

Si te conviniera más decirlo en español, no pasaría nada, que noto que inglés no es tu lengua preferida. Pero podía descifrar lo suficiente para agradecerte tus palabras. Me alegra que te haya gustado.

[Zoya]

Wow, the entire pandemic in just a few words! Wonderful rhymes and all so true.
"The minutes march with a burden
As April seeps into May."
Love the wit here!

[emipoemi]

so glad. thanks for reading.

[Zoya]

No worries :)

[Coyote Poetry]

Time is going slower but some places are opening up. I believe a bad decision.
"Now the populace is dropping,
Economies are stopping,
And all are panic-shopping
In the shadow of the plague."
I pray we can find some kind of norm. Strong and powerful words shared.
Coyote

[emipoemi]

So glad you enjoyed them. Thanks for reading.

(you're not the only one feeling the sluggish pace of time....it's heavy at times)

[Coyote Poetry]

I agree my friend and you are welcome.

[Chris Shaw]

I really appreciated the structure in this write as much I did about what you had to say. Your lines have great rhythm here. The final four lines in each stanza are particularly engaging. A good read emipoemi. And the plague? It continues sadly. We are having to learn to live with it.

Chris

[emipoemi]

Hopefully there's a vaccine soon. I'd like to hang with friends again. Glad you enjoyed the poem. Thanks for reading.

[Chris Shaw]

I agree. A vaccine will save us from a suffocating way to live. Fingers crossed.

[barleygirl]

Hi! Good to read you again . . . I've been gone writing a book for 2 months. The primary reason I started the book was becuz I needed to escape the constant commentaries that were splattering everywhere. I did not want to emerge & get the attitude stink on me. That's why, just my 2nd day back & reading stuff again, I'm really impressed with how this is one of the best things I've seen written on the pandemic. I think what makes this more appealing to me is becuz there's no whine & no blame. It's just a word portrait of the current times, well done, with great details expressed in original ways. Being original is not easy when so much is being said about a topic! (((HUGS))) Fondly, Margie

[emipoemi]

so glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading. Good luck on your book.

[barleygirl]

Thank you. I'm not trying to make it big, just trying to stay alive! *smile*

[Beccy]

The UK, which has a genuinely top flight health service, now has the highest second death rate in the world. It was arrogance partly at fault; that and a complacent head burying in the sand, coupled with a quite astounding ineptness.

Now miasma is setting in and it's becoming all about the money; just get the motor running again and call the inevitable consequence, acceptable collateral damage. Same as it was, same as it always will be I suppose.

An excellent poem.

Beccy.

[emipoemi]

Ya got that right (though I hope it won't be same as it will always be). Glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading.

[Esteban Morfín]

I like how you transmit emotions with your poems.

[emipoemi]

Years of practice and study. Thanks for reading.

[jacob erin-cilberto]

the gates of Eden are slammed shut and rusting....we were given something beautiful and made a mess of it...now we are paying.
We are confined behind the bars of isolation, while nature waits to reverse the seven days of creation.
We are being unmade.
love this epitaph for humans and the suffering they bring upon themselves by ignorance of and stupidity in dealing with.
j.

[emipoemi]

That's some interpretation you made! Kind of went deeper than my conscious intent but thanks for that and thanks for reading too. Glad you enjoyed it.

[Siddhartha Chatterjee]

The current circumstances are indeed exhausting. And you captured that rhythmically, poetically and yet so matter-of-fact-ly. Good job.

[emipoemi]

So glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for reading.