Jake's Flea Market

paracelsus who was
physician at basel on the day 
the pestilence arrived

once said there was no cloud
over the town that day   no storm
from where a first raindrop fell
and another   then a third
then a quarter of a deluge

an evil helios climbed 
the sky that day
and from midday shone
down on a first in the square

the first felt his warmth
then felt his warmth heat to a fever

the fever cooled   froze to chills

the neck   the armpits   the groin swelled

the toes   the fingers   the nose blackened

the first weakened
weakened   weakened   then died
and a second   then a third
then one of every four

before the hour came
in which he couldn’t
cure himself   paracelsus fled