Innocent Prisoners

They share a prison cell, she and he
With no bars or guards
And cell door wide open
Inviting them to escape
She dwells with a madman
Who rants both day and night
Of injustice and intolerance
And he laments the death of love
He sees things that others cannot see
He is a paranoid object of astonishment and irritation
Even for those who claim to love him
She yearns for friends embrace
And shopping sprees with daughters
But her body has betrayed her
And contamination can spell death
So she cannot breath their poisoned air
Yet, the world calls to them
To take a tiny risk
To embrace normality again
And worship the Gods of GDP and Growth
In the civilised guise of slavery
Called employment
But all of these are demons
That suck the blood of the living world
While ruining the earth
And instilling lies into the minds of the multitudes
For this is the real conspiracy
The world joyfully announces that the Pamdemic is over
And indulges itself with abandonment
While tens of thousands still perish daily
Breathless and forgotten
Souls that have become simple notches on a counting post
Where people lean, but do not look
And the hospitals groan
And burst at the seams
With invisible patients and corpses
While nurses weep in sheer breakdown of spirit
And roam foodbanks and bootfairs
Because the hogs of elitism drain the troughs
And sprinkle crumbs of pie to the impoverished footsoldiers
And all the while
The lovers pace their prison
Tearing at each other's flesh
The flesh that they once adored
And swore to protect
But he has beome the beast
And she the harvester of his anger
Until she cannot survive any longer
Under the constant invitation of the crowd outside
Urging her to step forth
To free herself of the fool who holds her prisoner
But he has trodden the paths of the outside world
He has seen the snipers waiting in the wings
The blood stains on the smothered floor
The burst baloons of lungs
And the eyes of bewilderment, seeking one last sweet breath
And yet, the call for normality is too strong for her
And strangers take her by the hand
And lead her away from her tormentor
And so, at last they are finally seperated
She lets go of his hand
Leaving him to fester
In lonely despair
The enduring love is severed
Until loves flame becomes a flicker
About to be extinguished
By the cold winds of an indifferent world

Dedicated to all the contnuing invisible victims of Covid