The Weight of the Pandemic and the World
On your broad shoulders, must be getting you down,
What do you do, O Lord, to relax and unwind
Do you have a place, perchance, called Downtown.

It’s info that I seek, ‘cause I know I can’t get there
Somewhere, beyond the stars and the silky tropical moon,
Who knows what you’ve lined up for the glory of tonight
By the Mountains of the Greek Gods or by a Sleepy Lagoon.

Not blasphemous at all, O Lord, unless you say so to me
For here, on this Planet of yours, blasphemy rules the roost,
We only fight each other and, theatrically, exchange blows
Each one to give his/ her inflated Ego, a truly a royal boost.

Palestine and it’s neighbours have fought a 70 year war
Some addressing this Pandemic now, but they just move on,
Maybe guns will end the Virus or so those “wise” ones think
Why put on blinkers, wear your masks, and still carry on!!!

Hate sown, dear God, does only Hatred produces
What we sow is what we reap, however, fancy the show,
Religion, sadly, for no fault of its own, the bane of all distress
As each one claims special access to you, blow by body blow.

Move up or down from any town, East and West all alike
North and South no better, friends, look left, look right,
The Middle East in turmoil since someone found some Oil
Ten long years of torment and then vanished into the night.

That’s what we do, with this go-it- alone, unwise hullabaloo
The sane laws of Comparative Advantage buried nice and deep,
Turning must be D. Ricardo in his grave, willy-nilly
How on earth, with such foolishness, would he be able to sleep

Or, perhaps, he melded with dust, as says the The Psalm of Life
“Long” was that “fellow” but, could well have been short too,
For Poets are not known for their long-winded ways
The monopoly of Politicos that is, and, of course, true.

Let’s look now at the E. U, or the cluster of East Europe
No one at Peace anywhere, internally or externally,
China loves the Seas they say or so I read someplace
Somewhere in the South, they say, for me a mystery.

Empires made and demolished, replaced by another
Everyone at daggers drawn, from night to the waking Dawn,
Cease-fires short, to pray and get back, to the left-off uneasy truce,
Three days, I guess is enough, to make You feel Hatred’s dead and gone.   

Preachers, mouthing inane words that no one listens to
What they say they only know, it’s Greek to most who hear,
My religion is the best, O Lord, for it only speaks of You
The heart at ease, no please, displease, nothing to really fear.

Religious, irreligious, secular, non- secular, atheist, agnostic
And, that is not the end of that, that also we can assure you,
The games of manufactured human disasters, way beyond the tragic
More labels, more divisions, more aggressions, more killings, too.

Natural disasters we can’t do much about, but that’s not what we’re doing
We are aiding such calamities by thoughtless, greedy, buyers,
To deforest, lay bare, remove green cover, where are we going?
The 100 th floor to the penthouse, to watch the wild fires!

Don’t know what you can or will do, O Almighty God
But, your Creation is in danger of total annihilation,
Come to Man’s aid, O Lord, instill in him that fellowship
To save the world from devastation, and its final destruction.

Would it be too much to ask of you, to send a Messenger
Someone, who could help Man overcome these, morbid, trying times,
Man, who in his million follies, has proceeded against other Men
Cleansed himself, night and day, after several heinous crimes.

So self -centered is Man today, remorse a thing of the past
It’s all about your “ photo- op” and that futile, image- building,
Who cares for it seems to matter not a little bit
Who has succumbed and, who is still around and living.

(The author is a prolific poet who has over 40 poetry books to his credit. He can be reached at ashoksawhny06@gmail.com/ www.ashoksawhny.com)