I'd Ask You How it Feels

1

I can always pretend  I'd ask how it feels
              to know you endorsed an injection
you knew nothing about except for the fact
it was mightily hyped as 'safe and effective'

but the simple truth is  I won't ever ask
since I know you'll never go to that place
where   if it weren't for unearthly courage
       such a question could never be faced.


In a world that's not real I'd ask how it feels
              to know that you fell for their trap;
to know how devoutly you touted a jab
reliable liars  in positions of trust and power
                                          extolled to no end

but living in the world we do
and being as we'd been  the best of friends
       I know the sting to admit you were had
       would be much too acute to endure
       so close on the heels of losing your lad.


2

I curse for your sake  and the fate of us all
              the day the green light was given
to save the youth from the virus of doom
              with miraculous newfangled shots;

the day  the grateful eyes of the faithful saw
every god-sent sanctified drop
of zealously peddled faux-medical potion
                     drawn from each magical vial

       as a saviour-like essence
              to be injected with reverence
                     into every precious young child.


3

I'd ask you how it feels
but from deep in your self-imposed prison
of impenetrable  self-defensive ignorance
— where denial is the key to survival —
              the odds are awfully stacked
              that you'll lie to yourself to the last

and unless you're able to answer one day
                            it's a question I'll never ask.


I'd ask how it feels  to have lost your son
                     so impossibly painfully young
but since losing a child's so much more
than any parent who ever bore such torture
                            should ever have to bear

unless it's a space you're ready to face
you can rest assured  that I'll never go there.


4

Immune to attempts  to add guilt to their grief
true believers — completely duped by belief —
can never think other than think what they did
was the right thing to do  to fend for their kids.