The rose showed one face to the world.
I believed that face for a long time.
What I could not grasp at first
was never harmless.
I saw only one side.
The rest escaped me.
It stayed hidden
until much later.
I trusted the rose enough to hold it.
The thorns seemed unimportant then.
But some wounds come quietly,
And leave a mark behind.
What started as a scratch
Became more than it appeared.
The wound was easy to hide,
But difficult to forget.
Tears came more often than before.
Some days brought it back.
I tried to move on,
But it stayed behind.
The rose still stands as it always has.
People still lingered near it.
No one sees what lies beneath,
Until it shows itself.
The thorn did not leave just one wound.
It returned more than once.
Each mark stayed a little longer,
and it lingered.
I noticed the flower first.
Little else caught my attention.
The rest came later,
By then… the thorn had done its work.
Not every rose is the same.
Some pain keeps the shape of where it started.
I know for certain that memory’s a virus
We’re susceptible to in varying degrees
Infecting some, randomly chosen, like us
Memory drifts in on a gentle breeze
I’m switched to the channels of subtle perception
It’s due to the memory my life carries on
I flick through most precious of my recollections
They’ve been given to me until I shall be gone
Then I’ll be removed to the isle of the dead
There I’ll meet you, thanks to our memories
Something will be missing, though it must be like that
After long separations and many calls missed
But I reckon, subconsciously we’ll reconcile
With the loss of those lovely details, for we managed
To save some of them in our favorite style
Aren’t we also the details that time couldn’t damage?
Remember we gazed upon the green hills
From your bedroom window with breathtaking view
In our case they’ve been grinding too fast, those fab mills
So we’re not that exceedingly small to come through
Many trials and hindrances, daily calamities
All those stormy Mondays and Sundays alone
Here we’re bound to wait now, among the tall cypresses
For the ferry to moor, to deliver us home.
Is it the latest scam, three its dead blamed on rats..Bubonic shaded.? Just think on that.' Astra zenenca started trialling a drug
To combat the black death, is there a rub.?
In July 2020 while other headlines were big
Yet these people died from heart illness what gives.? I know myocarditis has been up since 2021..What a co-incidence and maybe? Then some..Rats causing heart deaths is a new one on me.' Just how pushy can big pharma be, could it be health deteriation was what was planned?
And don't rats just galvanise reactions.?
As science and feelings stand.'
I thought my computer had a virus
But it turned out to be just a head cold
It told me it had a bug in its system
And I was worried as it is rather old.
But it now is very healthy
And I disinfect it everyday
It seems a shame to drown it in bleach
But there just isn’t any other way.
(for Gad)
The Saad truth is the Woke Mind Virus
Has now spread far and wide
Across all demographics,
Although it’s clearly concentrated in some
More than others.
But as the good doctor also makes clear
There is a vaccine for this virus.
And it’s a bit like the 12 Step Program
Beginning with acknowledgment
Of one’s own Illness, infection,
And habituation to the doom and gloom
Of Woke’s existential dread.
And then what?
Well, whatever and however many
Steps you choose to do next
With honesty, integrity, courage
Humor and joy,
And, oh yes, don’t forget play.
(10/16/25)
A virus takes your energy
And everything it saps
Results in lack of everything
Except, of course, for naps.
(“I of the Beholder”, 2014, original pen and ink)
The Zombie Apocalypse
The zombie apocalypse began a long time ago
First as a slow burn
As it spread friend to friend, town to town
A mind virus contagion
Hiding itself within a politically correct smile
But now a full-on raging blaze
Crowning as it leaps and jumps
Rivers and mountains, continents really
In its global conflagration
Spread not by bites and infected saliva
But by bytes of an infecting propaganda
Once called fake news, now fatal news
Fatal to reason, and friendships, peace of mind
And a healthy future
Eating away from inside
Until all that is left is a shell
With yet another zombie hidden safely within
The zombie apocalypse began a long time ago
But only now is it obvious
Its course a long way from run
(11/5/24)
Like a ghost I sit here
No one notices me
With their heads down, like they have somewhere to be
Hustling around like ants on a mound
Going in circles Around Around Around
Everyone like robots coded on path
The villains designing their evil wrath
There's a virus that spreads in the air.
Electronics all they do is Tear Tear Tear
Ups and downs
We experience throughout the year
Down in the dump at one moment
And jump with joy at another
Feelings can be controlled by our emotions
Or the surrounding
Or the weather
Or simply out of control
The epidemic comes and goes on and off
Lingering
Hiding somewhere
Peeping and waiting
Causing prolonged sadness and depression
Restrictions on outings and dine-ins
Hindrance on business activities and intimate contacts
Wow what had happened to this world
Are we and our feelings going to be controlled by the virus
Signifying a war between man and the virus
Instead of a war between man and man
Man and the alien
Man and the other planet
A paradox to be solved indeed
virus in the air
some care
not me said Mare
Never gets sick no matter what
loving her resistance, she's open, not shut
virus in air?
She does not care.
Your words
Dripping with venom
Your emotions
Crippled and diseased
Creating a toxic imbalance
I knew I had to leave
You were a walking virus.
(c)2023. Lenny Gazbowski
Looking out the window, straining hard to see.
Searching for the virus,
trees are all I see.
I know it’s out there somewhere,
I know it’s after me.
Determined to destroy me,
or that is what it seems.
No breeze among the trees.
They must be looking too.
They know it’s hiding out there. What are they to do?
.
Awash . My clean hands. My paws
I pray with folded hands. I pause
I hold. No gaps in my fingers
I give. Receive compulsive
An Order Humility wish
Still...I ...Pray
for
all
for
Me
Free
in love
in faith
no fears
to receive
and to give
Unenforced.
There I hold thee
no fears ....nor guilt
Paradox to wash clean
in gallons of synthetics
Hold on. A spoof this
All the hand sanitizers of WHO CDC
will not sweeten this little hand. Alas
Now I suffer compulsive fear of giving
You are always on my mind
Like a virus eating away my soul
The more I try to get you
Out and be free the more
You gnaw at my resistance
Tormenting me day and night
I try gently to ease you out
I try violently to oust you
From my veins
But every effort bounces back
Why are you so cruel to me?
You swore you love me no more
You claim we had nothing going on
Please free me and let me go
Refrain from killing me slowly
I was diagnosed with double-pneumonia on the 15th and classes started on the 17th. I’m already getting nagmail about assignments, yea! I’ll be behind and virtual for a while. It started as a rhinovirus, honestly, I don’t even remember being around a rhinoceros, but he trampled me good. (Hmm, song title there?)
I’m feeling better today, I can read without the room spinning - heck, I even managed to write this, but a new, implacable nemesis - low-energy - is here, like Lebron James, to check me when I attempt something over ambitious, like picking up my chemistry book. At least I got to stay in my room.
My roommate Sunny’s so angry with a certain girl that she even thinks it’s hilarious. Her creative, revenge beast has been awakened and her feelings are practically colors in the air. It’s entertaining. I think if she saw her now - well, let's say Sunny takes boxing in the gym every morning. “I’m over her already,” Sunny announces, stomping around her room, trashing all reminders on contact.
Be careful out there, people - if love doesn’t get you the rhino might.
.
.
nagmail - mail about late assignments, class papers due, surveys
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