And Moloch Spake Unto Satan

Beyond titanic zones and the harrowing guns
Of Pandemonium, Moloch sheathed his bloody

Blade and on bended knee addressed dread
Satan: “Immortal Serpent, Hadean Master,

King of the Fiendish Seraphim, the humans are dying,
And this spurs me on towards wicked deeds; but

What is the meaning of these strange new words?
What is an anti-vaxxer? What is a conspiracy theorist?

And what does it mean, to spread misinformation?”
Rising from his throne of burning stone and Plutonian

Night, the archfiend answered: “Science is anti-
Science, anti-science is science, the vaccine-hesitant

Hold informed consent to be inviolable, misinformation
Is truth, conspiracy theorists exude sentience,

Extremists embody reason, those who rail against
Flat-earthers are flat-earthers, anti-vaxxers are

Anti-mandate, the experts are quacks, while a
Covid denier is an incorrigible angel that sees –

And in seeing speaks with unadorned grace
And hallowed light.” Donning his gruesome helm

Of swarming bees and bone primeval, the lord of
Child sacrifice spake: “Father, these words fill my

Accursed soul with such delight – unborn the black
Sun – let’s cut and hew until the battle’s won.”

David Penner’s articles on politics and health care have appeared in Dissident Voice, CounterPunch, Global Research, The Saker blog, OffGuardian and KevinMD; while his poetry can be found at Dissident Voice, Mad in America, and redtailedhawk.substack.com. Also a photographer, he is the author of three books of portraiture: Faces of The New Economy, Faces of Manhattan Island, and Manhattan Pairs. He can be reached at 321davidadam@gmail.com. Read other articles by David.