VIRUS

So what was He thinking as He created

The AIDS virus? First, of course,

Of that benign purpose known to Him only

In the scansion of creation - to which it may

Revert in the world to come. But also of the ways

In which its terrors would apply in the time

Of the felled species (the contorting

Virus itself morally unfallen), His skill

Would make it the scalpel to sever

Saints from their sins; the knife to slash

Sinners from their sins - each particular

In the operation required. Grace, ready for all,

Would inject after the virus for many;

For many the death would expel from burgeoning sin.