Grim Nursery Rhymes

Some of you have probably heard the theory that the nursery rhyme “Ring Around the Rosie” is actually rooted in the plague. (Scholars say the rhyme actually predates the plague, but I grew up hearing that the “rosie” was a rash, and that falling down meant we all fell… dead.

Nursery rhymes (the tree limb breaks and the cradle falls, for instance) didn’t always attempt to spare kids from horror. Some of them brought it on.

Lizzie Borden had an axe
She gave her mother 40 whacks
When she saw what she had done
She gave her father 41

So this prompt is dark, but if you want to try it: Write some nursery rhymes for COVID-19. Social distancing. Physical distancing. Hand washing. Coughing.

Touch your mouth

Touch your cheeks

And  you’ll be sick

Within two weeks

(Well. You get the idea.)

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