The victims of this disease
are quick to be forgotten,
lost behind the fear
and doubt that cloud our minds.

Preferring to stay in darkness
we hide in our beds
while our nation wastes away.

Telephone lines void of conversation,
parking spaces abandon,
houses vacant of another’s warmth.

The passing of time led us
to desert that which we held so dear.
Ashes of memories litter the ground,
swept away by harsh winds
of ingratitude.

There are no celebrities
protesting this decadence
or praising orange bottles of relief.
No one resists this atrophy.

Lives etiolate
like the green of dying trees,
eventually to crack and fall
under the stars’ pale light.

This monster will not be satisfied
with our ruination. It will spread
across this country.
We will perish under its hand.