PHILIP G KAUPA
An entry in the Crocodile Prize
Kina Securities Award for Poetry
My fellow citizens, beware, as our little enemy, the HIV virus, is still around. We cannot defeat it if we are ignorant. It is human ignorance that makes the HIV virus invincible. I lost one relative and I know many of you did to. It's painful. This piece is to create awareness - PGK
Of its kind, so minute and almost non-living
primary distinction science is giving
Despair, desolate and peril trace its path
unto its acquaintance is dark death
So small, yet overcomes the weak
and wears out the great
devouring the living, taking its fate
So close, yet so far
dwells in a lively cell like a star
Its makeup is of the simplest
its functional complexity of the finest
and like a potter
it uses the teeny, tiny matter
The cells’ machinery skilfully replicates
and, of its kind, multitude rematerialises
where once a feeble life was
is now debris and chaos
So minute, though
to date an epidemic core
from the cellular level
up high the community cradle
It shows no care the little red army strikes
despite one’s rights
no one’s innocent to all it fights
again and, yet, again
Men like and ponder upon it again
and the army keeps coming like rain
inflicting more pain
roaring like thunder
Nevertheless, to many, it’s heard silently under
Its might is men’s ignorance and cover
for men to ignore, HIV is a lover
the battle is near here
Always be aware
stick on the safe side
only then from it men can hide
thus, survive this viral epidemic tide