Photo by ethan on Unsplash

Leon Wing

If YouTube Warns Shakespeare

A sonnet that Shakespeare could have written if YouTube warned him about the toxicity of foods in the 21st century.

A slice of apple gleams under the blade,

Its seeds whispering of silent death within,

The river runs, tainted by time’s slow fade,

Where plastic waves churn in a glassy spin.

They warn us of the perilous pairings,

Of foods that turn our bodies into strife,

As if our hunger’s long and silent bearings

Were not themselves a threat to fragile life.

We wander aisles, our baskets full of fear,

Selecting poisons wrapped in bright display,

Each label reads of doom that lingers near,

Yet hunger drives us to consume the fray.

And so, we feast, with caution in our breath,

On bites that carry promises of death.

This poem was brought to you by Leon Wing of Sundry Scribes, a Malaysian writing collective. Interested? Our Discord is open to writers and readers alike.