Of fading wisdom and posterity

 

With super-abundance of food
Yet people are hungry,
No elder seems available to say:
“Cook the food and eat”.
All are thirsty though they are by the river,
For none is there to say:
“Fetch and drink your full”.
Although every house leaks,
No voice dares to entreat:
“Why? Mend your roofs!”.
Education is all farewell “Eludetus”,
No collective courage
To make its domain “Hereditus”.
While remedies abound, all are sick,
As though all are afraid to say:
“Let’s treat ourselves”.
With dearth of leadership, age seems a burden
That, often, even legends are left with baggage
of wisdom with no space to share.

The Sage in all of us, and in our societies,
Is now a shabby, unneeded enigmatic being,  
Who should but sit, passively, staring at everyone,
As though gazing at players in a drama
Whose next scenes are a subject of perplexity.
He should speak not, except where instructed,
To beseech children to sally forth to their bidding.
His harmless demeanour, should only but
Elicit a “what does the old man think” murmur.
Where he came about, the steep snags-laden climb to his age,
not a bother,
He should only be a subject of pity, or perhaps, scorn.
He is to be referenced by his appearance and, often, his age,
Everyone’s duty, or so it seems, is to
Consign him to ignorance of the modern,
And, therefore, be accorded no voice in it.
This society which lives fully on caprices,
Where everyone ‘knows’ everything,
Their strength being used to fight but themselves.

Unmasking Covid-19

You were a menacing predator,
Who tiptoed spotlessly,
One sly step after another.
You were a virus without border,
Who covered entire spaces,
One sinister step after another.
You were an inglorious extremist,
Who unnerved the global population,
One innocent being after another.
You were a stealthy slayer, as
People consumed your toxin,
One fatal sip on another.
Your symptoms were “Covid”:
Common, unpretentious,
A cough here, a blocked nose there,
A headache, and/or a fever,
Signs of common ailments.
With innocence, people even wanted to cheer,
But, My Dear,
Victims chocked and gravitated to expire.

Blurry news of deaths, sadly, became clear,
From the West unto the East,
Where mortality was high,
And the South, where Covid became a scourge
Adding to the baggage of poverty and internecine conflicts.
Covid’s commands were gloomily “Covid”:
“Everyone, equally, to mask their face”,
“Equally, to stay distant from each other”;
“Nobody, equally, must travel”, and
 “Communities, equally, to be encased”.
So, spaces were closed,
All gatherings were stopped,
Normal lives became stalled.
It developed the authority,
Charted the ominous track,
And demanded broader obedience.
It allowed no differing opinions, and
Penalised all  who dared not to defer.
Indeed, with all due respect, you, "Covid",
Are a twisted feminist.  

  

 

  

 

The paradox of freedom

“I would have vouched that was a physical almond nut”,
gaped the ant at the stunning image on the sheet.
With a surged spasm of hunger he pecked on the seeming chewy nut,
hoping that the mirage could be something he could eat.
Mournfully, he relates the spectacle to his aunt ant and dad,
Concluding with tears, “that was both deceptive and bad”.
“Mighty is the magic pen that conjures such awesome lie,
which, for its huge trickery, pushed our stomachs to dry”.
“Fingers designed the fantasy”, said brother ant.
“But the arms, don’t forget, twist both finger and pen,
and, where do you leave the brain?”, averred the aunt.
“The brain, the thinking store house of men,
is where mischief is made for fun, though it causes great alarm, 
unbeknownst that, though simple, such could cause lots of harm".