I am a fiery end, a drastic purge, A sacrificial blaze, on sorrow's verge. Though life I steal, I cleanse and then emerge.

I was popular in the eighties When fitness was on brand! Put me on to keep dry Or use me when you join a hairband!

I spread through populations fast and wide and find the crowded places where I hide, I travel on the breath the hand the kiss and take what health the unsuspecting miss. I do not choose my host by wealth or name, the young the old the strong receive the same. I force the cities quiet and the borders shut and leave the hospitals beyond their cut. I am the moment nature shows its reach, arriving faster than the cures can teach. What am I

I am the price placed on a wanted head, a number nailed to doors and widely spread, I turn the public into hunting eyes and make the fugitive a living prize. I grow with danger as the desperate flee and shrink when justice finally holds the key. I am the economy of capture made, the coin that turns a neighbor to a trade. I am as old as outlaw and as law, the market value of a wanted flaw. What am I

I ask no permission before I descend. I hide sharp edges and blur where things end. I have sheltered kings from winter's bite, And spared their allies from judgment's light. I may silence a mountain beneath silent white, Or smother dissent with a single decree. Whatever lies beneath me, Soon becomes harder to see. What am I?