Today's writing prompt is "Phone Call" and since it's World Poetry Day today, I decided to record myself reciting the poem I wrote. This piece is a tribute to everyone battling Covid-19 in any way at all - the frontiners, the patients and families of patients, the ones facing tough times financially, the ones facing tough times emotionally, the ones who are separated by your loved ones, and simply everyone. This is for us.
I hope this reaches your heart. Happy World Poetry Day and stay safe. :)
They say that
the doors we are presented with in life
are the first checkpoints to tiers of lessons
we’ll need to survive,
and it’s funny how I’ve started feeling the same way
with the refrigerator door -
the way I no longer swing it open
for the cold bowl of grapes I thought I needed,
but for the carton of milk
I’d pour into my children’s bowl of cereal,
before I stumble upon the bottle
of my mother’s favourite fruit juice
and I’d wonder when
I’d get to share it with her again -
the longing hurts, I wish I could store that hurt
and all my other worries
into the coldest part of this refrigerator
hoping they’d freeze over,
but instead,
I shall pour myself a refreshing bottle
of life lessons.
I guess
in between all these uncertainties,
the headlines we dread,
the despair in the comments,
the confusion these things bring,
I guess in between all of these,
I am grateful
that we are home,
I am grateful
to have my daughter's smile
as my only piece of good news for the day,
I am grateful
that we will all be a part
of saving somebody's life
and the way how
when all of this ends,
the earth too
will finally feel at
home.
