Another question from my sex education days, from a very earnest 11 year old. The things people think are true, or not true, about HIV never cease to amaze me. This one was one of the more sensible questions I’ve had.
If when you got a cold, you died
You’d never sneeze and pass it on.
For once a virus gets inside,
You can’t transmit it if you’ve gone
And HIV is really smart
It doesn’t want its host to know
It’s there. It wouldn’t stop your heart
For then wherever would it go?
The virus needs you seeming fit
And never knowing that it’s there
It wants to be passed on and it’s
More likely if you’re unaware
You could be ill. But, if you are
It’s best to find out: face your fears.
The treatments now have come so far
They’ll keep you well for years and years
Nobody, now, should die of this
But people do not want to know.
They think that ignorance is bliss
But it is deadly, though it’s slow.
Tom Juniper Poetry 