India: Facing Reality

Hurrying him to every hospital she finds,

No! They say, “he might have the virus”

Coiled in pain, she’s left to watch

As he draws his last breath

Her worst nightmare unfolds

Right at her feet, her little boy’s death

Meant to be a consultation

Turned into a consolation

And died from negligence,

At the hands of those meant to save lives

Make it make sense!

Story of not one, but of hundreds of thousands

Day and night,

Fields ablaze with the dead

For goodbyes we fight

But “Leave!” they said

One lost his unborn child and wife

Another her father and her sister

All in one day, and all at a time

Who must they confide in?

To whom must they cry?

From laxed protocols

To loose mask mandates

Millions danced and celebrated

Filling the Ganges with their prayers

Kumbh Mela brought together

And thousands more at mass rallies

Promoted by the very leader

“elated” he was, to seem them all

All amid this very disaster

Yet again, the negligence

Of those who claim to lead this way

With no more beds

And oxygen cylinders

From roads to tracks

Buses and cars

Carrying dying lives in the back

While all seems lost

And humanity at its verge

With little hope for one and all

Come together, the few in the world

To save the nation from its fall

From Help India Breathe to oxygen concentrators

To the nation that assisted us,

In our hour of need

Come together,

For the billion people

Who now look to the world,

To be the answer to their prayers