Places of worship

Photo by Roan Lavery on Unsplash

are essential

to line your pockets
with open-mouthed
doe-eyed lemmings
and your coffers
with the toil
of the everyman
and the soon to be
dead man

to spread the virus
every virus
the ones we can touch
and trace
contract and repent
and those that thrive inside us
coarse through our infected veins

if god is infinite
then places of worship
are where god goes to die
and that service provided
certainly is essential

open your ornate doors
shepherd the flock in
to their slaughter

let their blood flow
down the pedestals
and under the pews

as the idols dance
and the robed
gleefully count their spoils
discarding the dead
and the diseased
soiling what’s left
of their souls

Uday Jhunjhunwala May 22, 2020