Rhythmic Rhymes

Yesterday you were talking for hours on call Today he is hospitalised, struggling to breath, Last month you both were taking selfies together, Today you are garlanding her framed photo, Till a few days ago you had a complete laughing happy family Today nobody from your family is left anymore, The people with whom you have lived your entire life, Your kids, your parents, your spouse, your friends, You cant even see them one last time, no last rites, Covid is taking the life out of relationships, Life has become unpredictable, live in the moment, Easy to say, difficult to follow, When people around are dying like flies, So many people you know are now lifeless names, It is a business of fear they say, Business of Covid, of death, of politics A game of numbers, forged data, statistics, Increasing, decreasing, getting analyzed for news, You know who is not statistics? My mother, my husband, my sister, my child, A million voices in the population cried!

As the clock strikes 11 she hits the bed, Tired and drowsy but sleep eludes her, As it did last night and the nights before that, Weary and eyes shut yet wide awake, Not knowing if tomorrow would be any different, Better she wishes but worse she fears, Wanting to hold tight her loved ones, Like that pillow she is clutching onto now, In an attempt to keep those close to her safe, Tears dried up long back, weeping is only internal, The suffocating fear keeps her tossing and turning, It's midnight, 1, 2 she knows not, Half asleep, half awake for hours, Then restless sleep overpowers her till the morning alarm, And she wakes up tired to fight another day.

Our country is burning, literally everyday, Millions are struggling, suffocating, grieving, For themselves, their families, their friends, Each day brings in so many new stories of pain. The war this time is not fought at the borders, Where army navy lay down their lives while fending off enemies, Somewhere far off, by someone unknown, Where it hardly stirs emotions in millions for long. The war is in our society, our families, our homes, Fought by the brave doctors and health workers we know, They have given us lifelines multiple times, This time they are risking their own lives as well. And the impact is reaching almost each person, Physically and emotionally touching all lives, And the worst part is that the storm may pass one day, But it will leave millions of our people scarred for life.