Time flows, like ketchup on a cold day,

a slow river of seconds becomes hours;

unnoticed weeks and months slip away

as nothing changes and the same events,

recur again and again, new variants,

shadowy, shape shifting mutants

shimmer and fade as hysteria relents,

only to reassert itself the moment that

the downtrodden masses voice dissent.

Years slide by,

crops sprout, flowers bloom, leaves fall,

memories fade, we struggle to recall

the ways our days were measured when

we travelled freely or gathered with friends

to celebrate friendship. Now we stay

at home and meet through Zoom,

our lives reduced to a single room

while all around us mansions decay.

Fear is the driver of this flight from freedom,

into eternal night; primeval darkness awaits,

the surrender of humanity to an unseen monster,

the devil in the narrative.

Brother turns on brother, friend on friend,

and people who would once blend in spite

of differences tend to stand apart, suspecting

'The Other,' not trusting their own defences.

This is The New Normal, the future

that promised so much, peace, prosperity,

lives of ease. A pandemic robbed us of all that,

biological warfare? A hoax? A globalist plot?

Propaganda is the virus, fear the disease,

no epistemic wisdom sees an end