An unexpected virus came Diabolically and odiously. Sniffles like missiles; We will cough Green-brown phlegm And seaweed; Eyes itch with sweat; Throats sound guttural warnings; Muscles ache from making The sign of the cross in European monasteries; The tentacles are spreading, grasping, holding hard; A boy lies face down on the firewall Like a tethered goat, Invasive, infectious and deadly. The body politik has been exposed, Vulnerable and fallible.