Year of the Rat 鼠年

year of the Rat 鼠年

the Rat
and the beginning of a new day.

alert, courageous
with frail health it tires quickly.

lucky numbers 2, 3,
favored colors, blue, gold and green.

unlucky things:
like coronavirus spreading

causing panic
somewhere far away.

the pharmacy opened its shutters,
the assistant barked

“no rush! no rush!” –
and to be fair the customers

a mile deep
(surgical masks sold out online)

act civil and ordered
shuffling through the door:

due to the lunar new year
stockists torn between tradition and
profits.

are you scared?
the student in the queue was asked.

damn right she said.
i always feared when the Rat

hopped onto the Ox’s back
then scurried to be first

into the Emperor’s party,
karma might bite its arse.

Another by Skendong: The Year of the Ox 牛