Poem on Covid
Sun is resting, glistening in gold
You take a moment to contemplate thoughts
Wrath disappeared into the night sky
Just like youth vanished without a goodbye
In the final hours of just another day
Final hour to a thousand who perished today
I was walking on the beach just the other day, to notice there were dead fish along the shore. Nobody would care. Not even dogs, not even crows did want to eat the dead fish as may be because it wasn't fresh, maybe it was toxic. The fish did not have eyes, but only empty eye sockets, maybe they did die sometime back. No wonder, dogs did not want to eat. Some, reclaimed by the sea, and I could capture one.
It started with fear and panic
First time, I heard about covid. I did not fear, as it was from far away from China. Some Europe countries. We saw videos in You tube how people were just falling dead on roads in remote parts of China. And although they were too dramatic to believe true, we awaited our turn. And it took good nine months before it started to spread in the country. Again, it did not come to a door-to-door disaster until another few months. At last, it was our turn. It was a taboo, those days to be positive, as nobody wanted to get it. News was always about death counts. People were dying in and out of hospitals like dead fish. Maybe just like the sea, maybe nature did have enough of our stupidity.
For a brief moment, people realized, the importance of life. Enemies stopped fighting as there was the bigger devil. We looked back at our textbooks to find out about the coronavirus, which we had long forgotten. Packed our fridges with frozen food. Greedily, more than the next-door Neighbour. At last, in a year and half, we were able to walk out in public free and start to hit the roads for work and vacation.
Lessons learned from covid.
What were the lessons learned from covid. We learned that it needs only a single virus to put humans into the history. Our dooms day might not come from the sky, but from a remote backyard, where a deadly virus hides. Luckily the death rate of covid was not very high.
While globalization brought the virus, breaking all the barriers, Isolation did work. That kept the death counts on hold until the vaccinations arrived. So, maybe globalization is not without its own hazards. Remember the guy who went to live in the jungle before the covid? And he came back few months later to know the chaos which we were in. As he was not connected to the grid of information, he did not share the panic and problems we faced during that time. But I am sure he had own little problems, in his own little hut in the jungle. Proving that what matters is what you know.
More importantly we learned about the zero of life. When the diseased flooded our healthcare system, we had to prioritize everything. Who needs it most? Our elders sacrificed their lives, saving ICU beds for their sons and daughters. Although our lives matter, they did matter not equally. For thousands it was their last days on earth. I used to see the covid death graphs, every day, mechanically without knowing each pixel represents thousands of people who are dead.
Today there is no covid. I walk free on the beach without a mask. On the same beach where a dreadful tsunami occurred 20 years ago, killing so many people just lying dead like fish. And I looked at myself. I have aged 20 more. Years of youth are beneath me. I am reaching the zero of life day after day, just like an elderly gentleman who did not deserve an ICU bed during covid pandemic. Google tells me for 170463 people today would be their last day on earth. Although covid is not their people still die. But why nobody is panicked? Covid only killed 15000-20000 per day when it was at its peak.
Covid did not affect me personally much. Except severe body aches I had nothing. Yet some of us had near death experiences or had to go through suffering of our loved ones. Even healthy ones who are far from zero. Hence, it is an opportunity to look back and ask why?
I wish I could know the answers to why, looking at the dead fish, and the blue waves. Life is still a Mistry.
Dead fish on the beach
Did not know it was dead
Washed ashore and ignored
Neither the dog which walked by
Nor the crows flew by
Wanted to eat it
Reclaimed by the sea
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