This War

This war

Is about blood, tears, and death

This war

Sees a little child heave a last breath

But there are no guns, no bombs

No battlefields that we can see

For the war rages forever on

Inside of you and me

This war

Fells the high and low

This war

Brings agony in sun and snow

Those who cannot find a cure

And those who cannot fight,

The destitute and the weak

Inevitably fall to the microbe's might.

This war

Is  within the laboratory, and a soldier I will be

This war

Is in researching things too small to see.

Infectious, dangerous, waiting to strike

The enemy's weapons

As deadly as gun or pike.

This war

Is far more insidious

This war

With casualties more hideous

Dengue and malaria are but two of my foes

Targeting the poor and the frail

I will defend them, and fight this war

On a tiny but momentous scale.