A Shared Gloom

A locked door

And a few prisoners inside

The kids' faces

Plastered on the television

Reruns of the old episodes of the cartoon, echoing in the house

Their eyes clouded

With the boredom palpable in the air

The mother struggling 

With her job and motherhood

Struggling to keep up

In both counts

She looks at the father,

Expecting a helping hand

But that seldom happens

To him, his work is far tedious than her

The prisoners sigh

In a shared gloom

Their aspirations gasping for breath 

Once they were pranked

Someone locked their doors from outside

It all went in peals of laughter

But not this time.

The door

This time is locked from inside

Protecting them

From a shared doom