The Plague Has Come and Gone

The plague has come and gone
But in many ways
We still find it to be useful

We use it
As a tool
To help remind people
How important it is
To uphold their morality

When a child swears, we say--

'Careful, young child.
Swearing was one of the reasons
The Lord chose to send down the plague.
Every time you swear
You risk the Lord hearing you
For He hears all
And deciding that as punishment
For that foul language
He shall cause your mother's tongue
To turn black
Grow feet
And crawl down her throat
Where it will eat her alive
From the inside out'

That didn't actually happen
During the plague
But the children are so young
They don't remember
What was and what wasn't

Such is their innocence

And so, you see,
We can turn a negative
Into a positive

Turn a time that was fraught with tragedy
Into a powerful weapon
Against poor behavior

Hardly anyone is scared
Of the plague returning
So occasionally
We have to label other things 'the plague'
To help buoy those fears
Otherwise our sword
Will lose its edge

So now, when a man falls off a house
And breaks his neck
We point at his body and say--

'The plague has struck again!'

And people return to their churches
And pray for forgiveness
And act accordingly for at least a few months
Until they start to slip again

To be honest,
I don't remember what caused
The actual plague

It might have been that dead horse carcasse
That we left in the center of town
For four months
Afraid to touch it
Because its wound bore a striking resemblance
To the Virgin Mother

It doesn't matter

History is just something we use
To create the future

And so we shall create
Much like the good Lord created
And we shall not look back and question
Why this was that
Or that was this

Why our brothers lost their minds
And rode pigs like horses
Yelling about the demons
That live in the hen houses

Or why our sisters cut off their hair
Threw on burlap sacks
And drank nothing but river water
And sow's blood
For days on ed

We shall just remember the events
In our own special way
So that the wounds
And the sores
And the festering pus
All benefit
From the beauty
Of distance

Amen