Poem – Ketaki Datta

Covid Roads in Conversation

We lay in a quiet abandon
With sun on our shoulders,
The men who ran on us
At breakneck speed
With two- or four-wheelers,
Were all locked indoors!
The beggars who sat cluttering
Our nooks and crannies,
Had all been taken for quarantine
To local hubs,
We think.

What about you?

I am just a lane,
You are a junction
Where so many
small roads meet!
Yes, I was happy too,
Basking under the afternoon sun,
Being regaled by bird-songs,
And greeted by cuckoo and nightingales,
Kept wondering, where had they
All gone for so many years?

Then they spoke in unison,

Yes, I was having whiffs of fresh air,
Yes, every day made me calm, calmer,
I know, from tomorrow
The old tale will repeat.
Again we will go deaf by the
Honk of cabs and cars,
And maddening footfalls of
Millions of men and women!

Let’s hope for a better tomorrow,
The humans would not clutter us anymore,
They will be a bit empathetic,
A bit more accommodating,
They surely will be,
Won’t they?