Mighty Force Of The Corona Virus Poem by Bernedita Rosinha Pinto

Schools closed, movie theatres closed,
shops and market places struggling to keep open;
justice system trying to keep awake,
policemen trying to be vigilant
ambulances rushing to and fro;
doctors trying to keep patients alive
but Pharmacies doing brisk business.

Bars feeling intimidated,
no one wants to drink or dream,
the virus is the glaring reality;
no one wants to eat outside,
restaurants giving take-aways;
everyone on a forced holiday
employees out of jobs,
advocates out of Court,
children out of school
school buses redundant
though some traffic keeps moving slowly everywhere.

Aeroplanes grounded
Trains shut down,
no one wants to get on a bus,
everything so much under an invisible control,
the controller is a Virus called the Corona virus.

Corona virus so unmerciful,
slowly it catches an innocent person
who is not guilty of any crime or murder
yet it suffocates and sends people on ventilators;
the virus keeps doctors busy
forcing them to do their duties;
it even inflicts them: the same doctors and some nurses,
transcending a fear so impossible to control or overlook.

The world is so baffled
as infections keep increasing,
as deaths keep increasing day after day,
bewildering people, frightening people
who move on the streets afraid of each other,
they look at each other suspiciously,
one thinks the other will infect him.

Friendships fall apart, homes get quarantined,
families compelled to stay indoors,
children ask - can we go on the playground?
Mothers say - No, No!
Fathers say - watch TV or play games on the internet;
children happy anyway,
no school, no tuitions, only TV all day internet games,
what more do they need?

Older people missing on their devotion,
priests say - places of worship will remain closed for now,
Virus says - pray at home
virus says - pray for your safety,
virus says - pray that the mighty force I hold, just vanishes!
Weeks have turned into months,
months have turned into worries and hardships
everyone wants to survive.

No food, no salaries, not a big deal
but no infection from the Corona virus is the promise everyone seeks;
no presidents, no prime ministers, no world health organizations
can guarantee to eliminate the mighty force of the Corona virus;
men so helpless, virus so relentless,
who will win, who will lose, no one knows
but the power of the Corona virus is leading
in the race against humanity
as people keep running to hide, to stay indoors;
and to be safe they even wear a face-mask
for personal safety of one another.

Virus looks at those who are careless and vulnerable;
and just like an eagle that rushes to scoop its prey,
the virus rushes to catch any person
and send him to a hospital either to survive or die;
the virus demonstrates its force on all the victims it infects
by suffocating them, choking them,
defying their resistance
ignoring their circumstance
reducing their pride,
increasing their humbleness;
forcing them to recover their extreme faith in God,
forcing them to pray and beg for their life until their end;
some who recover never forget the impact
and effect they have undergone.

O' the mighty force of the Corona virus
so incompressible, so unstoppable
only time will tell when it will end, when it will vanish;
O' God please extinguish the force of the Corona virus
and re-gift to this earth the cheerfulness it has lost,
the exuberance it misses.