Coronavirus Has Locked Down Your Life Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

The virus is on its way
searching for its prey;
it has not asked you to hide
or to distance yourself from others;
it has not asked you
to quarantine yourself
or to abstain from travel;
it has not asked you
to close down your stores
or to eat less and starve yourself;
it has not asked you to stay indoors
or to isolate yourself from your friends.

But the virus must have
certainly imposed on you
to sit, worry and pray silently;
it must have enlightened you
that money and treasures
cannot challenge it or destroy it;
the virus is on a global rampage,
en route to devastation and death,
making many to lose their lives;
it will choose its own path
it will choose to follow you
no matter where you go and where you hide.

It will not stop its chase,
it is you who is afraid of it
it is so life-threatening and wicked
it is you who has to be careful
as it makes survival so redundant;
the virus is so out of control
just like the bees who have been
chased away from their hive.
So, live as if there is a hope
keep your faith in place
keep your God before your face;
all that is to be, will be.

It is the virus who will decide
it is the virus who will contemplate
whether it will arrest you
or whether it will release you;
the lock down has confined you
the lock down has awakened you
to respect survival and freedom.

If your freedom is your birthright
your resistance is your best fight;
but the virus has imprisoned you
when you have done no crime or felony;
yet the virus who has no voice or eyes
did not seek your consent or willingness
to put you under a lock down.

And though, respect to life is so vital,
a dignified death is also
a man's hope and prayer;
but when it is engraved
on the landmark of this earth
that death will choose its victim
without the permission of dignity,
death will come like an eagle
and scoop its prey without hesitation.

Where does idealism of honor stand
when death requisites a surrender
in multitudes, in thousands?
Where will courage surface in a soldier
when the enemy is a virus so invisible,
so invincible and yet so widespread
altogether in so many places?

When no army, no warriors can stop
or change the path of this enemy,
so let us keep our faith in place
let us keep our God before our face;
as all that is to be, will be
and whether we have to live or die
the virus will decide
the virus will contemplate
whether we get that
one more chance to live
or whether we have to close
our eyes and sleep like thieves
silent and unknown to this world
as we perish in inexpressible anguish.