The Year 2020 Poem by Leena Amwaalwa

'It was one long month'.
'It was one big, chaotic roller coaster'.
'A prolonged misery'.
Everyone defines it according to their experience.
People lost their means of survival.
The world mourned loved ones.
The health systems were strained, severely.
The economic front were clipped, immensely.
The scientific branch were confused, senselessly.
The academia suffered an inevitable blow.
As for me, I was dealt a hand of bribery, literally.
You know, the little evil advocate of corruption.
The one that destroys economies and deepens the lines of social injustice.
It started with a phone call on the 17th December, at 15H41.
O ye, technology!
The truth that I have known all my life came crushing to my feet.
The system that I believed in failed me.
The heartache, the psychological pain.
But not all hope was lost.
For there is an independent body that is mandated to deal with such evils.
Only, they are not so independent.
Another blow, another mental slap.
Oh, high heavens.
Surely there must be a reward out there.
For no soul should endure such evil in vain.
The tree of justice, hope and fairness has fallen.
Woo to the ordinary birds that shelter in its branches.
Woo to the hopeful souls that feed from its comfort.
Woo to the unsuspecting individuals who long for its presence.
Weep, motherland, weep.