Adieu Pandemic, Welcome Panacea

Adieu Pandemic, Welcome Panacea

The silent cities and villages slumber like weary children
Heart rending scenes of migrant workers trudging the highways
With bleeding feet and broken lips, famished and faltering
On long roads to their homes, with hopes written on bleak tomorrows.

The people-less cities, traffic-less highways and forlorn alleys
Where has the hustle and bustle of milling crowds gone?
Where did the honking cars and screeching tyres go and hide?
The world is wrapped in silence like the stillness of the tombs.

The sun scorched towers and hamlets stand in lonely gloom
The few who peek through windows or falteringly step out
With guarded caution, donning masks to ward off the virus
Have fear writ largely across their half concealed faces.

Covid 19 continues its tharldom, claiming lives at random
Tears and fears and turmoil spread across the globe
Questions prop up and linger in everyone’s thoughts
Tell us more about flattening curves and possible cures.

We grope in the dark at statistics and graphs and conjectures
With no clue or certainty as to when we can be sure
The corona is contained and the vaccine has been found
When we can breathe easy, ride the highways and walk the alleys.

When can we see people smile and laugh and share mirth again?
Return to the days of living life with zest and unperturbed action?
And see the end of the road for the killer virus, the pandemic
When the panacea works with vigour and we can all say ‘free at last’.

George Plathottam