The Viral Masquerader's Vendetta

THE VIRAL MASQUERADER'S VENDETTA Ofall the thieves in all the world I am the biggest, the very best I've stolen more lives than all the rest. In untold years I've fooled the wise Defied all probes to find my size. I dashed in there and sat in here All quiet and innocent year by year They called it a recession and not to fear Then I laughed and went into faster gear One hundred and fifteen years ago I was spied by the wise and sage Virchow. But with guile I led all minds astray So none ofthe chiefs would grant or say That I was the one they wished to betray. I'll tell you the secret I had for this plot I went from a rod, to a thread, to a dot I made myselflarge, I made myselfsmall, So small I crawled through the filter wall, Like only the viruses are supposed to crawl. The scientists who were willing to look and see And closed no doors, wherever they be, They saw me slick as I am, cunning and wee And said they did to the powers that be But still no one listened and no one looked Intent with enzyme thoughts or DNA Or hormones and a wide molecular array, They made rare chemicals and complex drugs By the score and treated day after day. In the meanwhile I stole more lives away And raised death rates by multiple counts All while they spent funds in infinite amounts. Ofme the pathologist said "artefact, discount Ubiquitous, contaminant or dyes" And left me free before their eyes To multiply, invade, and grow to size. Verse ' Perspectives in Biology and Medicine · Autumn 1967 With cobalt, radium, and drugs galore They lowered the number ofleucocytes Prolonged life a bit, but often no more Than nature would do by immunity fights. All these and the rest were causing few cures, There seemed to be content with one to five years Even though sad misery and many tears Preceded almost certain and dismal biers. Then came some hope back fifty years and more When Doctor Rous found I ran thru a tiny pore And still could cause big lesions to abhor, More scientists confirmed this to his score. But still no use was made ofthis fact, Until now the force ofthe Nobel impact At last there is belief a virus is back Ofthe spread and the cause ofmy fatal attack But this was my way to masquerade For I am not so small, nor so vague That I must be grown on tissue or egg Or will disappear and die offatigue, I grow on media that grow bacteria. Because that's what I am, alas, And will be seen as such, when bias Is set aside with no one to embarrass For I can do whatever is done by a virus. I told you, I can make myselfsmall As any virus through filters can crawl I can make myselfbig, long, or tall, I can do everything a virus can, and all And still I take the stain ofred Like the tubercle bacillus when it is dead. However, I belong not to this family head I cling to my own tribe instead. Many times I've been called the culprit with gloom. But a worker called Diller has proofofdoom She shot me into mice and left me alone I grew to a tumor after many a roam It took a year to make me feel at home. 171 Then no one could deny my fatal act The autopsies and others bore out the actual fact That I could cause cancer to grow and enact And sometimes, like nature, I left it contract. But she assembled more incontestable proof, She found me latent and silently aloof, In the blood ofmice who seemed to have health Sitting and waiting for a chance by stealth To strike in proportion as in nature's wrath. And now, ifall these arguments fade away I still can hold everyone at bay For ifthey put me alive on display On a slide where I can dance and gayly play No one can say I'm not a platelet...