Mapping The Pandemic

Busy streets of cities, numbed in

Deadly silence

No ructions, no turbulence;

As if the tireless time has stopped

All its physical engagements.

The imported monster, drinking slowly

The nectar of life, the poisonous virus

Getting stronger has transformed

The forever busy world, impotent.

The disobedient demon is invisible,

It's horrendous hide and seeks game

It seems to be an unsolvable invincible.

Alas, no antivirus invented yet

In the laboratories of intelligence

That had once frozen the world,

Belittled the stage with skillful weapons

That could claim the lives of millions

At the press of an obedient button.

Look at those groups of hungry workers,

Who came from their villages

To earn a square meal for their families!

Separated for long, yearning

To be together, what would they

Know of social distancing?

The gates of cities, closed for good

Shutting their doors of livelihood.

Now they have to walk a long way

As they return to their homes, empty-handed.

The civilized world is in isolation,

Wearing a mask, everyone

Is untouchable, mistrust polluting the air,

Singing in tandem a melancholic

Tune of mayhem, perhaps the exiled life

Will never find its lost kingdom again.

News of deaths screeching everywhere

As if we’re counting the scores

Of an Olympic game,

People are dropping like flies,

For the deadly virus is on the loose,

Gallivanting the globe, attacking lives

Of a pauper, a minister; science till date

Doesn’t have a vaccine, nor a clue.

There is no ray of hope in the sky

Where once the morning sun smiled,

The evening stars twinkled,

The dew dropped to comfort the soil,

The paradise is now in peril, in turmoil.

But this too shall pass!

History will witness the deaths

Of values, the arrogance of blind success;

In time, nature will heal. The indomitable

Humankind will not accept defeat;

But alas, there will be no lessons learned,

For the same mistakes in time and space

Will it still, be condemned to repeat.