Social Leprosy

By Andrew R. Duckworth

Don’t be near them, they say,
Often with a shallow smile-
Facades so fragile.
On the fringes, the “them,”
As if untouchable,
As if just by looking at them
Disease might spread
And ravage a population.
Except, the disease is an idea
And, now, ideas are dangerous.
The “them” carries diseased ideas,
Those not carefully constructed
In the confines of academia.
They weren’t selected
From those who know best,
And those sorts of ideas
Are suspect, are uneducated.
Leave it to those at the top
To have the cure,
The same type
That they’ve given us before
That didn’t change anything.