The
Black Death Odes
The
Black Death
Part One
Some stood
staring with bleeding from the noses, other swelling in the groin and armpits—
The
size of an egg, an apple…
They
called them tumors, — but all knew it was the Black Death; soon thereafter the
tumors spread; they changed from black to purple!
Thereafter,
spots appeared on the arms and thighs, large and small: death spoke, and it had
its own silent language!
And
there was no medical advice.
Death
was imminent within three to seven days: depending!
No
fever or symptoms, it came and was contagious, like a fire catching seagull, it
was airborne.
Once
captured on the clothes, it became diseased also!
And
the animals, they even got infested: pigs, dogs, cats and birds moved those
ineffectual rags, to and fro…
As
the corpses laid all about, day and night!
It
came by way of China they say, on those old wooden ships, piggybacked by
diseased rats, whom carried the pathogen, the bacterium flea, called: Yersinia
pestis—
So
the healthy avoided the diseased, securing their own safety: abandoning their
properties, and drank wild and woolly, unfocused and bestial—
They
roamed from tavern to tavern, forgetting all laws: human and divine!
As
one after the other, ministers and executors of the law disappeared; all were
nearly dead only a few alive, but they were paid no mind! They were hidden in
their houses.
Thus
no duties were perform, just to bury the infected dead, and ride or run.
Part Two
Neighbors
did not visit neighbors; many went abroad!
Relatives
stopped visiting one another.
Brothers
abandoned brothers, and uncles their nephews.
Sisters
abandoned brothers, as did wives and husbands abandoned one another!
As
did fathers and mothers refused their children.
Therefore,
the sick were left to care for the sick.
The
servants left, no matter how high the wages were lifted.
The
rich and the beautiful, exposed themselves to manservants no dignity no shame,
just plague.
People
died alone, without a witness or clergy.
The
piteous laments deleted, and bitter tears were shunned.
Two-hundred
million died, out of a population of four-hundred and fifty million, or
thereabouts!
Grave
diggers threw bodies into the nearest burial ground available: be it trench or
grave, or ditch, perhaps even into the rivers, it was all the same.
One
neighbor knew the other neighbor was dead by the reeking smell that drifted
from his abode.
In
houses throughout Florence, decaying bodies laid exposed for days on days;
there were no mourners: 100,000-died in Florence alone, as the disease
continued to travel along the Silk Road with Mongol armies and traders and by
ship.
It
infected cities in India, Mesopotamia, Syria, Armenia as well as Europe, and
Egypt.
Bodies
were thrown over city walls, thus infecting the farming inhabitants.
Dead
men, women and children, were more plentiful than dead rodents, rats, rabbits,
goats and hogs.
And
one to another thought no more of it.
This
ended, they went to their rest!
5-29-2015 ((No: 4784)
(Art work by the author/poet))
Notes: It was common in those days for streets of
the city, any city in Europe, to be filled with filth. The Black Death or the
Great Plague as it was also called, derives from the Homeric Greek, meaning a
dark death, and the filth helped spread the disease. The Black Death was
different than the Bubonic Plague, in that it had no symptoms of fever, or
headaches, or painful aching joints, or nausea, when it came it came like a
storm. The Pneumonic Plague, includes coughing and blood-tinged septum. Again a
different kind of plague. As was the Septicemic plague different. The Black
Death was active in Europe starting about 1347 to 1353, but it was already in
Asia. And in one way or another the
plague would remain active until about 1750 A.D. half of the population in
Paris died. About 40% of Egypt’s population died. It was a worldwide
plague. Iraq, Iran, Syria had a death
rate of perhaps 33%. Eurasia (Europe and
Asia) 200-million died. In 1624-25, 10% of the population of Amsterdam died
of the plague. It perhaps killed between 30 to 40% of the world’s population,
which was conceivably around 450-million.
Note: The Yesinia
pestis is a gram-negative bacillus of the genus Yesinia that causes various animal diseases. Pestis meaning:
pestilent, meaning poisonous, to cause death. Also referred to as in the old
bible, pestilence. The flea being a bloodsucking insect, on the order of having
legs adapted for jumping and are parasitic on warm-blooded animals (wingless).
…
The
Black Death Flea
The Black Death Flea has its own history!
From a horse, rat, rag or corpse, without
touching the ground, it can leap rapidly, — with all the quick-witted swinging
skills of Achilles’ sword!
Yet more deadly than the battle-axe, the
crossbow the javelin or the boar spear—
It can find its way around armor.
It can kill a bear, boar, a hare,
pheasant, if it is infected, and be carried away to jump onto man.
It can climb trees on the backs of cats,
walls on the backs of rats, and will drop down on whomever is below.
It jumps from one tree to another hidden
in the fur of a squirrel.
In one way, the deadly Black Death Flea,
is a marvel.
Written: 5-309-2015
((No: 4785) (Art work by the author/poet))
Note: the two
interconnecting odes might be called (for the benefit of the reader) a Cowleyan
Ode (s). An ode of irregular form, or a
serious lyric. Whose structure is determined by the poet?
