Once more it was the time of reaping

It came but rarely a cypher arcane

mystic gnostic portents mitigating

Others signs more grave complain

The herd had thrived to gross excess

Normal stress deemed insufficient 

To correct evidence of systemic distress

Thinning out seen as beneficent 

The available tools had not succeeded 

Famine war and violence evidenced

Small response lasting changes needed

Nuclear options not a preference 

A dusty tome was brought to light

Written millennia before this day

Plague deaths in countless millions

The very tool but some dismay

Once unleashed it must be spent

But only after its purpose done

A contra needed development 

A vaccine for the favoured ones