Corona Delusion

There is cloud accumulating at the
Corner of my mind

I am afraid of the gathering storm

I try to lull my mind to sleep
Sleep blessed
I put up a curtain around my mind
For sleep curtained

I think of pleasant things ...
Of green flowing valley ...
Lofty mountain beyond the valley ...
A spring rolling down the rocks
Creating a stream, in the water
Of which I sink my feet and let
My mind rest ...

But the cloud darkens and breeze begins
To blow ...
I run down the valley, now a silvery haze
In the moonlight
And I see my shadow stretch across the
Stream ...
I run to the foot of the mountain and
Panting I look up and try to catch
The music of the falling spring ...

More clouds gather in my mind
As I see men, women and children die,
In the north, in the east, in the west
And in the south
The news that the TV channels generate
Are of deaths and more deaths ...

My locked down body proves insufficient
To hold my turbulent mind that wants
To break free ...

It is evening and it is raining now ...
Will the stream in the mountain swell
With rain water? Will a deer come to the
Stream at night to drink water? Will evergreen
Trees grow by the banks of the stream?

The breeze becomes harder and my mind
Refuses to be tamed as news of more deaths
Trickle in through television and news portals ...

Will the tiger pounce on the deer as it
Drinks water?

I sit petrified and images float in ...

Masked faces on the streets,
Doctors complaining about inadequate
Protection gears
The gentle, round, elderly face of
The doctor-administrator, who died
While saving people from the clutches
Of corona ...
Empty streets, roads and highways ...
Afraid, starved faces of the migrant labors ...

The storm rises.
I switch off the TV
Smash the cigarette in the ashtray
And rush to the balcony for fresh air.

The valley, the stream, the deer, the evergreen trees
Disappear
The mountain breaks into pieces as a volcano
Erupts and I melt in its heat.

Am I still breathing?
Shall I thank my god
For staying alive?

Whom will the dead thank?