Social distancing has left people craving emotional connection and physical intimacy. In times like these, this piece identifies with the goods and evils of the Coronavirus. It is a poem of sorrow and recreation, on introspection and the bizarre ways of life.
What an awful time to exist,
when all that you love stands amiss.
Miles of indifference in these turbulent times,
and thus to forgo my worries, I write this hymn.
Nature has taken its course once again
to flourish amidst the greed of men.
The skies are clear, and the turtles are at bay.
The dolphins in turquoise water marry the silence of the waves.
The birds are chanting tunes of joy as they go back to their homes,
and we remorse our loved ones as natural selection is no more just a discourse.
“Dear Beloved,
I hope all is well”, I write.
There was a time when I could see children playing on the streets.
There was a time when I ran to school in the blistering heat.
I would hate the crowds and the lines of people waiting for the bus
but today that is what I crave the most; this bundle of chaos.
Everybody stands six feet apart today,
as the cinema halls are empty, and so are the poor’s shelves.
I am one of the privileged ones who
is safely writing this, sitting on her bed.
I hope you are healthy
and that your mom is fine.
I hope you stopped fighting with her
and embraced her cold touch.
As I know, you couldn’t ever say much.
I hope you finally talked to your dad,
after he hit your mom.
I hope you forgave him for all he ever did wrong.
I have taken this time to introspect
and reflect on my undoing.
I have spent the time to gauge my mistakes,
my goals and see what I should be doing.
I spend a lot of time reading
and I lie in bed too much.
I breathe heavily
as the death toll rises and touches
a million more.
Our elders and their tales of the famine
seem to be coming true,
as we see it plague in front of our eyes,
Oh, the horror! It leaves us black and blue.
I have stopped watching too much news,
as I feel it leaves me hollow
and I’m unable to understand their pain
and I find it in comparison to mine, quite mellow.
I wish in these dire times
you were near.
I wish I finally learnt to love myself
and not fear.
But here I lie, a nihilist by nature,
who questions life’s meaning
and her own stature.
As I think it’s caught me,
I cough into my elbow
to not leave a spot,
to not let anyone
catch this disease
of mourning and loss.
Dear beloved,
I bid you farewell for now.
I hope this letter reaches you safely,
before the fall of dawn.