Some people these days, when they sneeze,

Are offended if someone else tells them ‘bless you.’

Maybe one should offer a polite ‘gesundheit.’

No one worries what that means anyway.

It means, ‘health,’ by the way,

Soundness, wellness, general well being.

But the etymology of blessed is literally 

To be ‘covered by the blood,’

An ancient word from an ancient religion 

Where an initiate would be put in a trough 

Dug out in the ground,

And a bull would be slaughtered on a grate that covered the pit,

And the initiate would be washed in the blood of the sacrificed animal,

Completely covered with it.

Christianity picked up this archetype,

Along with various other religions

Incorporated it into its theology

And a vestige of this comes through 

From even the time of the plague.

“Bless you,” remains.

A serious undertone,

I sure hope you’re not infected.

I see similar looks in the store.

Someone sneezes.

Five people stop in their tracks to 

See who it was.

A few offer a timid ‘Bless you.’

And a child that stands in a shopping cart

Says, ‘I hope you don’t have coronavirus.” 

-jenn