There goes the hearse of my dreams
Of joys unexplored
Sorrows untold
Friendships left in the cold
As now yet again I set in life’s fold.

It takes from me the days I took for granted
The people whose company I wanted
The relations that mattered
And all of my feelings now lie shattered.

Numb with disbelief
Lies humanity.
At one stroke
The tide turned
Turning everything into a pall of gloom
Wonder till whence shall It loom?

Eerie silence
Desolate streets
Hounding distances
All seem to creep.

Magnified by solitude
Ineptness of humans marred
Lives forever scarred
Joie de vivre seemingly barred.

No fires
No screams
No gun battle
Or damaged seams
Just the unseen enemy silently gleams.

Is this the end?
Alone with no one to mourn
With fear and anger
Raging inside
But a look of uneasy calm on the
OUTSIDE.

As the rays of the sun peeped in
The hope seeped through
Gone was the frenzied schedule
Of racing against time
Because
Time stood still.

All ready and nowhere to go
Time gave us the opportunity to find
Pleasures which in daily quest, one had to forgo.

Heard was the sweet voice with deliberation
For there was no need to hasten
Out came requests and commands became restrained
For there were just the handful in the house, the ones who listened.

Exploratory delights became part of the routine
Cleaning of minds, thoughts and of course nooks and crevices
Was how we passed our time.

Spending time with loved ones
Making memories and recollecting bygones
Wishing for future
With wistfulness and pragmatism
Marked the days’ vision.
For each waited for a new morning
Praying for things to be changed
And somehow to let these moments spent together
To remain UNCHANGED.

Stop to think
And listen
To the sounds of the bees and the birds.
For now have the wheels of motion shut.

Stop to ponder
And deliberate
Was I the one in the race too?
That has led to this state of quietened low.

Stop to reflect
And then voice:
Such was the wrath of my actions
That led to the disquiet
For I am the one, who
In my frenzied pace forgot
That
I had to work for me and not against me.

Stop and stop at once…