The bacon didn’t work.
The anti oxidants didn’t work.
The probiotic regimen didn’t work
and the poems did nothing.

Love didn’t help
nor prayers
not well-wishes
nor donations to the appropriate associates
of angels and aliens.
Nothing changed the outcome.

Not the peppers.
Not the ginger.
The aluminum and the zinc
and the superfoods
and all the black market remedies
and super science solutions
all were useless
in the face of fate.

The outcome was undeniable
despite everything that opposed it
– even the bacon.