by Devon Balwit
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Edward Jenner Vaccinating a Boy Eugène-Ernest Hillemacher (1818–1887) Image Credit: Wellcome Collection via Art UK |
Fewster pondered milkmaids’ unmarred faces,
Jenner listened, testing cowpox pus
in the arm of his gardener’s boy with great success.
Others took up the baton—two centuries
of improvements: Gaston Ramon lancing horses,
noting some with greater immune response,
then raiding his pantry to find a substance
to stabilize their powerful antigens,
which Glenny then bettered with his alum salts.
All strove to thwart death in his race,
on the team of that impartial clarifier, science.
These days, virulence back with a vengeance,
how sad to lose the lead their diligence
gained, squandering the lives of our sons and daughters.
Devon Balwit walks in all weather and edits for Asimov Press, Asterisk Magazine, and Works in Progress.
