R.B., 58, an English Professor in Shimoga, India

Someday

 

Someday, when all this is over

The glory, the ego, the power

The euphoria of the winning streak

The quiet victorious elation

The arrogant stare and stride

Someday, perhaps someday

It shall dawn on you

That there had been a shadow

Beside you, behind you,

Of yourself, in shadows

lurking, waiting to emerge.

That old self, quiet and composed

That human with compassion

which you cast away

in pursuit of wealth and fame.

And someday fellow humans

You will remember streets

deserted, humans afraid

To hug, suspicious,

Frustrated, helpless

With all that superior knowledge

Waiting in line for everyday

Essentials which you wasted

Otherwise, abandoned animals

because you were selfish.

Someday you will remember

The long line of migrant laborers

Who cleaned your city,

Built your buildings,

Swept the streets, cleaned

The bathrooms, plucked

Your vegetables,

Remember your farmers

Your maids, your cooks,

Your doctors, your police

force who kept vigil

And ate out of banana leaves

Nurses who could not feed

Their children, but kept you safe

Doctors, who slept in cars and

Wards, tired, hungry frustrated.

Someday fellow humans

You will remember to return

To be what you were meant to be

The crown of creation

People with compassion and love

And set the world on its path again.

Someday remember this

It took only a tiny weenie virus

To bring you down

[submitted on 4/27/2021]

Life in Quarantine: Witnessing Global Pandemic is an initiative sponsored by the Poetic Media Lab and the Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis at Stanford University.

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