Let it heal

The world is breathing,
It is healing.

We are struggling to live
Still fighting.

Conspiracy theories of warfare
Has made love, being loved unfair.

To fight the virus,
We're washing our hands,
Wearing masks;
If the mind could be shielded
And washed as well
We'd have helped us
Faster off this hell.
It seems we ought to
Do some thinking still,
The world is healing,
Let it heal. 

The indomitable

No, I will never ever die
Before I am physically dead,
I will live my lovely life
Until my breath
Is finally withheld.

The state of the global village

We are in the anteroom,
in a castle we knew as world,
playing out perhaps the last act
of a drama; men, women, children
all at once engaged
as the sleepwalking Grouch,
cleaning the dirty hands;
caregivers are failing,
so are the perfumes of Arabia
to wash the scarlet guilt away.

What a spell has fallen upon us,
that we are outwitted
by an invisible,
so-far-invincible virus.

The historian inside
trembles to paint
the grim picture in words,
of how an imperceptible petite germ
failing the intelligence
of the unprepared
disabled, challenged world
that has successfully cracked
into the outer space.

News, tracking the countless
figures falling as flies,
as though keeping the scores
of a horrendous Olympic game,
every continent, losing lives,
liquidating businesses;
putting work to an abysmal
standstill; lockdown, the sole remedy
to this pandemic peril,
confinement, the only prescription
waiting for the underestimated
enemy to perish. Everyone is jobless
except for the relentless, indefatigable,
resilient doctors and nurses.

Realisation that too much greed
is of no use, other than the futile
effort of getting rid of the guilt;
globalisation was merely to
grow and develop, uniting the world
was never the business, a concern
it ignored the decay, the screech
of the tonsured world; deglobalisation
that the world’s facing now
could finally unite humans with humans.

On witnessing the countless procession of hearse,
perhaps the stage is tired of wars;
disunities, differences might wither from within,
soul-searching might very well begin;
a new way of thinking might emerge
old and failed methods, purged;
global citizenry will perhaps concur to win;
world, a waiting room, tired of losing,
now, in the last act, eagerly washing
its hands of all the erstwhile, countless sins.

World!

We have so far
molested the world
as a brothel;
now, let us treasure
it as an ashram.

The show goes on

I want to be happy.
I focus on things, or on others,
Friends, strangers;
It entices me more,
Becomes my addiction,
My destiny.
Instead of being happy,
I become sad.

I exercise my freedom,
I feel cherished in
The so-called like-minded company,
In passionate love that leads into
Humdrum tolerance
Or in acquisitions, opulence
Blinded by material success
Perpetually scared to be with me,
I constantly yearn for togetherness.

My own friendship I underestimate
Seduced by others, submerged in things
I am subjugated,
I crave for them as my savior,
It kills me from inside, it devours;
The more I get, the more I want
The more I compare, the more I hate;
This germ of a game is forever reborn,
The curtain never falls, the show goes on. 

Lying for nothing

Look at the sky
Lying for nothing
Spinning the mind around.

Looking up is an intemperance
An indulgent impertinence;
The neglected, ignored ground
Lying for nothing.

The curtain-raiser

When the curtain falls
Actors are delivered
From their roles,
From a pack of lies;
They become free
From the cage,
But only temporarily;
For when the stage reopens
Before the audience
For the next performance,
The players become bound
Within their profound scripts,
Dialogues, actions of yesterday
Repeat in time and space.
Only a momentary wonderment
'Ah! If it were to change,
It has to', but in the end
Nothing is above entertainment. 

Victory will belong to humanity

The world is standstill.

Human life is in sudden peril.

Deaths in thousands lie,

Shock our unprepared universe

No time to weep, no time to cry

For the countless, silent hearse.

No matter what, believe in your own faith,

In our unabated, united strength

That whatever be the calamity

Victory will belong to humanity.

Numerous martyrs of the war

Have sacrificed their lives for us

We bow to them and take a vow

That this too shall pass,

This too shall pass

Soon we will show us how

We could concur to conquer the virus.

No matter what, believe in your own faith,

In our unabated, united strength

That whatever be the calamity

Victory will belong to humanity.

This poem was selected as the top 50 by the WHD.

Here are the details:

Congratulations !

We are highly honored & excited in announcing that you have been selected as a “Winner” in the “COVID TIMES POETRY” contest. Your heart-rending poem has inspired a lot in these times of hardships and has given them hope of sunshine through humanity.

Requesting you to keep it this information to yourself until it is officially declared at the event.

Thank you for participation the competition and please kindly attend the live COVID TIMES POETRY Winners Ceremony on 22.04.2020 (London Time - 3 P.M. BST - GMT +1) which is graced by the presence of H.E. Anthony Carmona - The 5th President of Trinidad & Tobago, Abdul Basit Syed, The Founder of WHD & many more. Herewith attaching the agenda of the program and a promo poster as well. You can post it through social media and tag us. 

Please circulate the links to all your kith and kin to witness the event by  Joining us Live through our YouTube Channel or Facebook Page. Links listed below

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Also,

For you to be featured on our YouTube, Facebook & Instagram please kindly make a video of the poem (Lyrical video with Voice over, or Self Video-graphic recital or Image slideshow based video with voice-over) in a landscape view (Aspect Ratio 16:9). HD mode is preferred for a better quality of videos. Please kindly reach us out WhatsApp - +91 7358 541277 so we can help you get your poem through cross boundaries, reach lands afar as an inscription for a lifetime. This would be appreciated on or before April 30, 2020.

Sharon Pilling

Secretary-General - UK

World Humanitarian Drive

www.facebook.com/WHD.org.uk/

https://twitter.com/WHDPeaceOrgUK

Lock-down

Lock-down.
Hidden treasures
Of nature,
Unlocked.

Find us a cure

You, the supreme

Of all sentient beings,
The cream of the cream?

You have learned to fight

In the dullest days, darkest nights.
Guns, weapons engaged to kill
Your own species with matchless skill.

Your outer-space intelligence,
Your wealthy arrogance,
Why are they useless
Now, to protect us
Against an invisible virus?

You will take months to prepare
A vaccination! Why can't you expedite
For your expeditions, you take lesser time
You supreme erudite! For within this tenure
The deadly creature will tonsure
The defenseless battlefield,
Where is your smartness now?
If you can, show us how
You can help at this hour of need.

All this while you have wasted our money
In outer space, invested in other
Things, as expensive as white elephants
But you cannot take care of our safety
Against a creature much smaller than ants?

Inside the oceans, you store
Countless weapons of disaster
Yet, at times of crisis such as this
There’s not enough equipment
No adequate infrastructure.

Look at the rejoicing nature
Dancing in fresh air
It has got some respite from us
Thanks to the deadly virus.
You are greedy, made small
Although you sound like big brothers.

Take this as a lesson please,
Do not fight with human beings;
Learn to fight real enemies
That spread pandemics such as these,
Do not waste public money anymore
Save us from dying, find us a cure.