pestilence

Troop movements spread contagion far, and wide
No corner of the globe was shared the flu.
It's still contentious quite how many died;
we're sure that it killed more than WWII.
This new pandemic's not a tenth as dire
although it too's contagious on the breath.
At this remove from warfare's blood and mire,
we've grown less tolerant of so much death.
Columbus brought the New World more than guns
his influenza torched a world naive.
A revolution so naively done
wreaked devastation monstrous to believe.
Grim price, to purge the White House of this clown;
world's trend towards longer life turned sharply down.