Oh please spare the agony—

Spear the righteous trends.

Bow down to the air you breathe.

Say goodbye to all your friends.

Say so long to all your enemies.

A fond farewell to lovers.

Maybe we could’ve beaten this,

If we’d learned how to treat each other.

If only neighbor had been neighborly,

And stranger had been friend;

We could’ve saved humanity

But instead we’re facing the end.

So much time was wasted and lost,

Looking at gender and wealth and skin.

If only we had realized the cost

Of dividing by land and religion.

It was hate that made us create it:

The virus in our labs.

We didn’t realize when we made it

That there’d be no taking it back.

We didn’t realize how fast it would spread,

And all the lives that it would take.

We finally see it now that everyone’s dead:

Epidemics don’t discriminate.

Oh wicked magician,

Latest victim died at dawn,

For once she was there,

And next she was gone,

Oh wicked magician,

You perform on four stages,

The fourth being hopeless,

Death locked up in cages,

Oh wicked magician,

How beguiling your act,

Your tricks undetected,

Your surprise without tact,

Oh wicked magician,

How long is your show,

Two weeks, ten years,

Your intentions unknown,

Oh wicked magician,

What age is your unwilling volunteer,

Did he turn sixty seven,

Was she to turn three next year,

Oh wicked magician,

Your wand grants me no wishes,

Though it does make me dream,

I'd had time for more kisses,

Oh wicked magician,

We fight but you ruin that too,

Fighting is tethered to I.V. poles,

Told there's nothing we can do,

Oh wicked magician,

Up your sleeve lies a cure,

But you prefer martyr's,

Lined up at death's door,

Oh wicked magician,

Pickpocketing thief,

Stolen hair, lives, dreams,

Your pain bares all it's teeth,

Oh wicked magician,

Like your flowers, tumors grow,

Growing bills, growing saddness,

Growing to kill us, your foe,

Oh wicked magician,

I know one thing, your name,

Your name is Cancer,

No one wants you, but you came.