Quarantine Notion (With a nod to Jonathan Edwards)

Perhaps our language is too mild, too

reasonable to get the message across

that these are apocalyptic times for many, and

for all we know, for all.

Jokes abound--six feet wide or six feet down,

cover faces, wash hands, wash hands, stick to open spaces

wash hands...Economy? Forget it, stupid. How?

More than comfort’s at stake here. Life. Whose?

Dissension reigns, facts—fake, real? Science? Constitution?

Experts, each of us, each his own. Does language fail us?

Hyperbole too bold? Were we to hear we hang by a slender thread,

with the flames...flashing about it, and ready every moment

to singe it and burn it asunder, would we then believe?

                                                                                                                                           m.d. paust