Free-For-All
It was a question of nerve
and, when it came down to it, the Wan blinked first
After their scribes threw in the towel,
they succumbed to humanity's curse
In a moment, it seemed, they upended all their previous mitigations
Pivoting to the new normal, they said, they lifted all restrictions
That it was time to return to normalcy was the considered feeling
Truth be told, there was, in this, a large element of wishful thinking
And the evidence was clear, they'd been inadequate with this change of plans
The toll quickly showed they'd chosen a lower tier of soul insurance
For, beyond emotional vaccination, one needed inoculation effectiveness
Herd immunity was indeed a chimera,
for now the whole land was a mess
It was every man for themselves, whiplash throughout the populace
Who would bear the heavy burden of the good scribes's mistakes
The historians would later ask, did they consider the alternatives?
The way these academics do, making hay at length about what ifs
They could have at least waited until after their lunar new year
What did they gain by so precipitously succumbing to fear?
And the optics weren't good, the whole world would be disbelieving
Any statistics now profferred would be taken as those Wan deceiving
All we know was that they were finally going through their second wave
Although, with the kind of numbers affected,
fortune would only favor the brave
Hastily abandoned, previous certainties were now summarily dismissed
Yet saving face meant that no one could admit that anything was amiss
A confusion of discarded policies that were no longer compelling
The official silence that reigned in those ghastly few months was telling
Leveling up - or down as the case really proved to be
Now there was no sanctuary on hand for the catastrophe
The whole world placed as it were in the thick of it
Global narrative collapse with its striking deficits
Ananse hankered down with his family,
best to keep quiet and watch what would unfold
In the aftermath, there would be more opportunity,
of this he didn't need to be told
The Wan, it seemed, had calculated
and decided on what amounted to acceptable loss
As the old proverb went: one cannot separate fighting horses with millet stalks
Weary times would follow, the toll of those days was rather harrowing
When all around everyone in the grip of the gods' cauldron was suffering
Ananse beheld so many that were complaining of these significations and wonders
Perplexing given that they'd had the opportunity to prevent the earlier blunders
It was the inconvenience that was the prime bone of contention
The notion that it was no longer worth favoring prevention
The change of policy had scuppered any goodwill, crossing the spider
He never forgot a grudge,
in good time they would have something to remember
And so zero tolerance would be a thing of the past
It was surely inevitable that they couldn't hold fast
Now that caution was foregone, in its place came laissez faire
We would have no more examples of humanity's strategic savoir faire
The last sanctuary, then, swiftly descended into upheaval
A return to the worst of plague living, echoes of the medieval
The Gods had put all to the test, even those without the wherewithal
And with no place to hide on earth. We would all face this free-for-all
Free For All, a playlist
A soundtrack for this note (spotify version)
- Free For All by Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers
- Every Man For Himself by Coleman Hawkins
- Upside Down by Diana Ross
- Topsy Turvy by Earl Hines
- No Rules by Trini Baby & Robelto
- Topsy Turvy by Bud Powell
- Back at One by Brian McKnight
File under: humour, satire, culture, observation, folktale, Ananse, storytelling, whimsy, myth, coronavirus, pandemic, Social Living, Things Fall Apart, Observers are worried, Buyer's Remorse, hatchet job, covidious, poetry, toli
Writing log: May 27, 2023
