Corona Duty

In these trying times
Staying in self isolation
For days to beat death
The difference between
Sanity and insanity gets
BLURRED…

A howl wants to escape
From the core of your
Existence, defying death
And disease, as you struggle
To live in a world as diverse
As chalk and cheese and
You want to say ‘cheese’
To life, but the word gets
Stuck in your throat and
You want to scoff at the
‘civilization’ at the ‘progress’
That has failed to save Man.

Uncertainty engulfs you
As unknown fear grips
Your mind and you try
To find solace in nature
That has reclaimed its
Position in the earth,
A benefit of the prolonged
Lockdown world over.

Hungry laborers walk
The streets; with factories
Closed they do not know
What to do. Yet they struggle
To survive and you struggle
With them, the marginal
And downtrodden in this
War to save the civilization,
Where not a bullet is fired,
But men and women have
Died in thousands.

What good are our warships
And killing machines when
They cannot save Man from
The clutches of death dished
Out by a microscopic life form
That has mutated to beat
Medical science hollow and
To make progress of science
Questionable…

Man accuses man for
The spread of the virus.
Man tries to fix blame.
But it’s time to fight together,
Shoulder to shoulder, forgetting
National boundaries, religions
And cultural differences and
Rise in solidarity for the
Future of Man…!

Pranab Ghosh is an award-winning Indian journalist and writer, who has worked for major news outlets of the country, including HT Media Ltd., Eenadu Digital, TNIE, Business India group etc.. His books of poems have been published by English and Canadian publishers. Read other articles by Pranab.