Tomorrow, here in India, we enter the fourth Phase of the COVID -19 Lockdown, and we must with caution too, without forgetting the lessons we learnt- about People, this earth and Nature. I'd like to think there is hope, for us to realise and prioritize what's in front of us- Choices good and bad, to go back to our old ways where it's only the rat-race and being blindsided to everything else, or to care- slowly and deeply. What are we going to choose?
This poem I wrote is one questioning my own thoughts and beliefs-
'The Homecoming'
After crunching numbers
and counting days
then forgetting how to,
We went back to that place
where it all began
To live life the only way
known to us- proud
To be seen and heard,
In the streets
the marching band is here
loud and clear
Send ‘em other lives back
We like our monopoly
Claim the lands with
Vrooming, racing accelerators
and honks
We will celebrate, yet again
this recovery of freedom
Hard,
Till we forget all that was learnt
Hiding behind
curtains in the living
Watching as the streets
first looked empty- Ghost Towns
Then- Homecoming
of the sacred others
scared nd confused,
Walking on eggshells
Man, a most displeased master
Slowly
the lessons of a pandemic
shall only be a faint
acknowledgement… Until when?
We might have stories
to tell at
a grand old age
to a dead world
When all has left except
the Vassals of memory- Sin
and maybe,
just maybe, regret
Some of us softened up while
Some of us will become
twice as ruthless
Fears shall be long forgotten
Left behind like accessories
one doesn’t need anymore
Because we are human
and not kind.