These Are Harried Men

An infirmary of men cauterized from pyloric to sternum, stilled by a meddlesome hand. These are harried men. There is no plight, no Diaspora of bodies, just a yellow sickness that impedes movement. Shamble legged, hatted, slow-witted and addled, the sickness, feet shuffling in and out of the moment, with neither a reprieve nor stillness, just an outside in, a murderous cowing.