In a Time of Plague

It is time to dismantle this stage
that represents the world;
we ought never to have let actors
enter the city, with their songs

& long noses, making a joke
even of our deaths. Take them,
those who have died with those
still living. Dispose of them some way.

As for the rest of all this, the canvas
will burn easily enough,
& the women’s dresses. The building itself
is fit to be a stable.