This poem is a helpless rant against the draconian 21-day lockdown imposed by the Indian government; supposedly to fight the global epidemic – the novel Corona virus. Here is the content:

Lub Dub, Lub Dub, Lub Dub

Every week, every day

Every hour, every minute

My heart beats madly

The beats growing louder

Till they reach a crescendo

My chest is filled with such pain

As if it were pierced

With a thousand needles

Each sharper than the last

My hands and legs shake

My mouth trembles

My eyes pop out of my skull

My brain is on overdrive

Spinning like a top

My head feels like it’s about to burst

Like a punctured balloon

I want to scream and holler

At the top of my voice

Till my throat snaps

And the eardrums of everyone around me

Are hopelessly shattered

Locked down for three weeks

With no transport anywhere

And food supplies dwindling

Faster than you can say “Corona” !!

Does this government care even an iota

About the poor and the needy?

Or does its interests lie

Solely with the rich and the powerful?

Of course, certain tough measures are required

When you are dealing

With a massive global epidemic

However, to punish us all

To the extent that

Survival is best left to chance

Is not something that can be expected

From the world’s largest democracy

We, the public, the masses

Are doing all we can

To take care of ourselves

Our families, relatives and friends

And contain the spread

Of this wretched disease

But we need to ask our government

What have you done for us

Apart from stripping us bare

Of a countless number of rights

In the name of fighting a war?

Are you truly following the Constitution

That you claim to protect?

Where were you

When the virus first started spreading?

Now you are acting all high and mighty

Preaching about safety and hygiene

Did you follow them in the first place?

So, get off your high horse

And look in the mirror

Yes, we need to fight this together

But for that to truly happen

You first need to give us back our basic rights

All of them!!

After all, it was hardly our fault

That this sordid mess

Happened in the first place!!

Jai Bhim!!