CONTAGION

There’s something 

we don’t want to know

that’s in the world we live

It’s not obvious or shows

but it’s something that we give

We pass it on to others

when we breath and touch

It persists and creeps 

and smothers

too many times too much

It hangs around in boardrooms 

backrooms and buses

Sometimes we pass it on 

to our family who trust us

Our world that suffers 

far too many famines 

inequalities and wars

may no longer bear 

its terrible, terrible soars

We could name it 

or shame it 

if only it was seen

But this particular contagion 

will never have 

an antidote nor vaccine