Parousia And Covid-19 Poem by Dennis Ryan

Friday afternoon, May 22,2020

"And man may find his catastrophe,
His Millennium of obsession."
- George Oppen, "Parousia"

Tales of power—
the triumphal arrivals
of Hadrian, Trajan and Nero,
advent coins minted
with their likenesses,
to commemorate
their visits:
"Adventus Augusti Corinth".
Impossible then
to doubt
what has happened:
history recorded
in such legends.
And we remember,
our leaders take
their places—
Trump, Xi Jinping, Bolsonaro—
carry on as
they once did,
largely ignorant
of the consequences
of their actions.
For us, no more triumphal arrivals,
only Covid-19 among other maladies...