The Virus Poem by David Lewis Paget

I was visiting in the purple woods
When I saw Tyrrenna near,
She seemed to be hiding behind a tree
And I said, ‘What brings you here? '
‘I'm running away from the world out there
For the portents look so grim,
Have you seen the aliens on the ridge,
I fear they're looking for Him! '

I hadn't then seen the alien ship
That had landed on the bluff,
I'd just heard rumours from time to time
About ships from space, and stuff.
‘So they're really here at last, ' I said,
And they've come from outer space? '
I sat and marvelled at things unknown
And at God's undying grace.

‘Has he sent a party to welcome them? '
I thought I should have been told,
I was the head of the Hundred there
But I thought, ‘He's getting old! '
‘He sits and waits in the orange mist
With his troops, they sit in fear,
He says that we'll have to deal with them,
It's the wrong time of the year.'

I shook my head in dismay, I said:
‘Why can't we let them be?
They probably come in peace, you know,
Why can't we wait and see? '
‘He says they come like a virus,
They will settle and spread and grow,
And push us out to the hinterlands
To perish in deep black snow.'

Tyrrenna shivered, and so did I
At the thought of a dismal fate,
Perhaps we shouldn't have let them in
Through the Milky Way Stargate,
The crops were blue in the valley lands
And the seeds were not quite ripe,
The wind would take them across the bluff
To feed their appetite.

I hid at the edge of the purple woods
To watch them on the bluff,
They walked around in their silver suits
With cannisters, and stuff,
They sprayed the crops in the valley
Turned the crops from blue to grey,
And all of the seeds had shrivelled up
By noon of the following day.

‘How did they know they were poisonous, '
My friend said, in her fear,
‘They only landed a week ago,
They're taking over here.'
I thought to call on the Hundred but
I was too late, too slow,
The aliens sprayed the orange mist
And I knew, we'd have to go.

‘He's dead, and all of his troops are gone,
That spray kills at a touch,
We'll have to head to the hinterlands, '
Tyrrenna sobbed, was crushed.
The suits came into the purple woods
Were spraying every tree,
‘We have to get rid of this virus, ' said
A suit, and looked at me!

30 January 2013