breeze

wind blows from the east
(no longer an ill wind) and the west
discretely coughs behind its hand

it is not pollen that chokes
the masterful hand of civilisation
when our endless connecting
made prisoners of us all

time passes over us like cloud
and our fearfulness drowns us
breath by laboured breath

for we have travelled too far now
for spring to blossom in our hearts
though where our sickening has passed away
flowers rise unchallenged to meet the sun

© BH, 2020

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Poetry24 challenge - the word was ‘breeze’. I found this about flowers blooming in China, post viral devastation. 

Link: XinhuanetFlowers bloom amid spring breezehttp://www.xinhuanet.com/english/2020-03/15/c_138880069.htm