A Viral Viewpoint Poem by Mary Champion

(Strategy Under Review)

Every death is a failure for us too-
another distribution centre closed.
The coughs and sneezes
are production faults
hacking the system
and revealing our presence to the enemy.
Now he will take avoiding action,
bring in the heavy artillery,
bombard us with increasingly sophisticated missiles.

The suicide troops,
the hot-headed zealots
who cut off their own supply lines,
encourage the development of doomsday weapons
that will annihilate us all.
Better emulate our brethren of the common cold,
those whose minor irritations and inconveniences
rarely provoke serious retaliation
thus promoting their long-term success.

Stealth should be our preferred approach -
the secret agents of our symptomless wing -
sneaking up on the victim,
camouflaging their presence
so that no one suspects
their defences have been breached.

Production lines in full flow
right under their noses;
secretly despatching our crack troops,
seeding new factories -
new distribution centres -
furtively transmitting our RNA
to infiltrate all Mankind.