The Finest Hour

K Radhakumar
Covid-19 and the image of death!
A fear of the unknown
Stalks the streets of this place
Placed under lockdown.
Nobody is seen walking along the road –
Not one soul.
There are no people
Honking their horns
As they drive past.
Why are people always in a tearing hurry
In this small town?

The world outside is lifeless
Not a drop of blood is throbbing
In the veins of this place
Modern life
A very busy life
As busy as a bee
One sees nothing beyond one’s line of work
Life’s too short

Who wants to be in such a hurry
To grow old and die
Without living a full life?

Houses seem to stand empty
Life seems empty without society
Windows seem to stare emptily
Into the skies above this place
Placed under an extended lockdown

 A ghost town!
Never seen one in life.
What’s the charm of a deserted village
Be it sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain?
Where’s the lovely figure of the village schoolmaster?
One’s teachers who taught
The letters of the alphabet
In one’s primary school days –
All are dead and buried.

How’s everything with you?
Animals in the zoo
(Our less fortunate brethren)
They have long felt what one feels now
When one is kept in quarantine
Or when one’s place of birth placed under lockdown.
Respect the new culture
Enjoy the new experience
And don’t break the rules
By loitering in the street outside.

Once you do you’ll be infected
And you’ll die of Covid-19.
The matter does not end there –
It’ll infect others
And your death, a one-time affair
Will be as meaningless as death itself.
When you try to save others
By not allowing yourself to be infected
You live your life to save mankind
And you’ll be seen as modern messiah
Standing out from the crowd.