Reading Daniel Defoe in Time of Plague

It starts quietly enough
with a flashing yellow light without malice
Without warning it turns red
eerily bouncing off the puddles
A crossroad
speed up or hit the brakes

“Bring out your dead”

Most speed up
while the power brokers
use a waxed, heavy duty canvas
to cover up as much as possible
while gathering together a raucous chorus
singing together in different keys and scores
with bluster and fearlessness
while we shudder

“Bring out your dead”

Read old musty accounts
search for ancient wisdom
it is all in the old texts
the cacophony drowns out everything
the invisible is confounding
wait it out no matter what

“Bring out your dead”

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