The White and the Red

The Red is growing.

Blood is flowing.

Germs invading.

Battle’s raging.

Red is trapped,

Stuck and scratched.

The traffic jam

In veins is fast!

Oxygen waining,

They’re complaining.

Little Red is gasping, gasping!

“White crusaders,

Kill invaders!

Save us from

These germs,

Outlast them!”

White come swiftly, power raging,

Bursting from the Macrophages.

The White one, turning to Commander,

Assessed the battle saying, “Sir,

The active shooter has invaded.

We should block him off,” he stated.

“Right,” Commander breathed O2,

“Let him see what we can do!

Send the phagocytes to eat him.

We will follow and defeat him!”

Like a tumbling ball of fire,

Down into the break, the wired

Macrophages rolled,

Breaking through the shooter’s hold.

With one big chomp, the virus eaten.

The White then cheered, “We got it beaten!”

The macrophage puffed his cell wall,

Contented that he had eaten all—

But just as they were cheering for him,

One cried, “Look there! The virus uncoated!”

Sure enough, the virus shed

His coat, and sped away instead.

“After him!” The White one cried,

“The cut off Reds must still survive!”

The swarm of White rushed after him,

And sped down through the vein, so thin.

The narrowing space constricted White,

And made it hard to stand the fight.

They went on until only one

Could pass through space,

And reach the virus.

Meanwhile, the Red were dying fast.

Without their O2, they won’t last.

Little Red, she gasped and cried,

“I hope The White one hasn’t died.

I hope the White can kill the virus.

Before he reaches us in turn.”

The White one was the only cell

To struggle through the vein so well.

He barely fit, and crawled his way,

Without O2, or any stay.

“Little Red, I’ll come for you.

Don’t you lose hope. I promise you

I’ll kill that virus before he gets

Into the bloodstream. Don’t you sweat!”

Just as The White one said these words,

He saw the virus start to emerge.

Without his coat, he looked so small—

But armed to the teeth, like a steel spiked ball!

“Gram-negative! My word, I’m lost!

Without my group, it’s going to cost!”

The White one gasped, as he struggled forward.

He wouldn’t give up, but pressed on toward

That wicked little bomb of a virus,

Set to explode and make him burn.

With his last strength, the White one stretched

His big mouth over the virus. He guessed

That maybe he could stop it…but

He knew it wasn’t likely…Just

When he had swallowed it,

The germ wove all his tongs, and it

Hurt the White one so, so much

As he felt his insides eaten up.

“The germ is overtaking me!

He’ll with my parts disguise himself

And the Red—they won’t have any help!”

The desperate White one tried to yell,

But felt his voice so choked, unwell…

Back in the dying part of the vein,

The Little Red started to wain.

She could not breathe. She thought she’d die.

It wouldn’t be long. She thought, “goodbye,

White one. I guess I won’t see you.

You tried to save me, I know, but who

Could stop a virus shrewd as that

Who broke through vein and drove you back?”

The White one saw his little love, now.

She was so withered, shrunken down,

Not plush and rich in red like he

Had always thought of her to be.

She just looked up—and saw him now.

But no! She thought he was him; how

Could he convince her he had been

Taken over by this virus? Then,

With all his strength, the White one cried,

With just enough voice, before he died,

“I’m viral!” He hardly got to speak

Before he felt himself go weak.

Little Red, so sad for him,

Summoned up the strength to win.

She crawled just far enough away

From that fowl germ, that when the aid

Of other Whites arrived to fight,

She didn’t die, but passed the night.

That cut would heal. The boy would live.

He wouldn’t know that true love is

In all his cells, who fight for him,

And live and die and lose and win

From minute to minute,

Day to day,

All through his life

Until his way

Of life is over. Then,

They’ll all grow cold and still with him.

Never is there so close a thread

As in the life of the white and the red.