It's A Fair World!

“What plans for the weekend?”

“I simply want to have some me-time. 

Locked away from the world.

Locked in my room with books and coffee.”

As I spend day after day

Watching my clock gift me bonus hours of me-time

Reading about cities and countries go into lockdown

Listening to the silent songs of the streets

I wonder if one should be careful with wishes.

As I walk around my room

Pasting to-do lists everywhere

Scattering half-read books all around

Crumpling papers and aborting poems

I wonder about families

That live in houses smaller than my rooms.

As I walk around the supermarket

Adding in products from every shelf

Throwing in new sauces for cooking experiments

Letting in sanitizers of all kinds

I wonder about houses

That cannot afford more than a bar of soap for an entire month.

How do beggars isolate themselves?

How do cab drivers work from home?

How do members of a drought-hit village

Wash their hands 5 times a day?

How do houses without handkerchiefs

Purchase protective masks?

As I spend day after day

Holed up in my house like during a holiday vacation

I understand that ‘work from home’ is a privilege

I understand that ‘hand washes’ are a privilege

I understand that ‘social distancing’ is a privilege.

Be it a political challenge – war

Be it an economic challenge – recession

Be it a natural challenge – earthquake

Be it a medical challenge – virus

The ones who have nothing to lose

Always end up losing the most.

It’s a fair world indeed.