By Wade R. DeYoung – Haines City, FL, United States
Agents of Apocalypse
–very loosely after Sandra Simonds’ Orlando
Many folks champion humans,
with bombs, bullets,
intentional infection policies.
Humans aspire to this position
prestigious,
but no.
They rank as amateurs.
Might reptiles qualify?
Crocodiles and caimans
with ivory teeth and jaws
like snap traps
or rattlers, mambas,
cobras, copperheads, cottonmouths
oozing venom villainous.
But no.
Arthropods are close contenders.
Mosquitoes, tsetse flies,
tiny flying vampires.
Ticks, hypodermic needles of death.
But no.
COVID, AIDS, smallpox, yellow fever,
dengue, Ebola, measles, rabies
—caused by viruses,
just two vector-borne.
Anthrax, botulism, diphtheria,
leprosy, syphilis, cholera,
bubonic plague
—bacteria-borne,
but one vector-borne.
Malaria, sleeping sickness
—both arthropod-borne
but caused by protozoans.
Millions of microbes,
malevolence in mind,
preserve the prize
as the agents of Apocalypse
and Ragnarök.