who advertises daunting jousting skill.
I yield devotion to the scientist
in labs, and health providers with the will
to take up arms against Corona’s scourge.
No mere medieval damsels in distress,
our nurses storm the battlements to purge
the pathogen with cavalier noblesse
oblige. Their foe deploys our friendly arms
as turncoat soldiers serve as breeding ground
to pass on its incendiary harms
pandemically. Nor can its source be found.
As such our health providers chaperone
potential victims into quarantine -
removed from front lines of the battle zone,
in lieu of an emergency vaccine.
And still our white-masked warriors advance,
as fearlessly as cavaliers of yore,
without the latter’s rapier and lance.
Their weapons are a single-minded corps
of industry, endurance, cotton scrubs,
proficiency and antiseptic rubs.
Author Bio:
Born & bred in New Jersey, Frank De Canio worked in New York City. He loves music from Bach to Amy Winehouse. Shakespeare is his consolation, writing his hobby. Poets Frank likes include Dylan Thomas, Allen Ginsberg, and Sylvia Plath. He also attends a Café Philo every other week in Lower Manhattan.