Back Then

Those were the days my friend -- we

thought they'd never end -- we thought

they'd last forever, but they failed to.

Those were the days of casual choices

to live with a measure of risk felt to be

more than manageable in exchange for

the opportunity to witness the grandeur

of nature and test your natural instincts

the energy and endurance nature endowed

you with while marvelling at the extent of

her creative inventiveness within bold

landscapes of ineffable design. That, then.

You made choices that were not universally

shared but matched your fixed ideas of

value in life. Now, life's value is challenged

through another force of nature unchained

as a dominating threat absorbing the minds

of a universal population in morbid dread

of pain, isolation and death. The choice

is clearly defined; retreat from all that has

been taken for granted including freedom

of movement and above all any inclination

not to sequester but to gather in perfect

accord with others when to do so is to make 

yourself completely vulnerable to the viral 

menace stalking the world as we know it.