Sunday poem By Namita Rani Panda

Love in the Time of Corona

Touch me not dear
For I can no longer blush in shy
Rather out of fear I’ll surely die

No more hugs dear
For in between love and life
I do prefer the latter

Let’s live like strangers
Without pretention
You in your home and I mine
In complete isolation

In the kingdom of Corona Death reigns
Doubt dictates with unchallengeable claims
Here a touch, once heart-warming, kills
A hug, once highly solacing, is a curse

So, let’s look at each other from a safe distance
With masked faces and gloved hands
No need to sit closer under the elms
And the star-studded sky
No need to paddle in the surfy shore of an azure ocean
Hand in hand

Let’s live like strangers again
But if we chance to meet
In an unknown street
Will you mind throwing a smiling glance
From a safe distance?