On the printed page
I crack open my day brewing coffee,
its aroma stimulating my senses.
A new morning it is! — I think.
What new crisis is on the brink?
I obtain my glasses, open the printed page.
Squinted eyes, consume the headlines
and maps and charts they eagerly look for,
as I scroll, gliding down the screens’ fold.
Indicative of affliction, the red spectrum
and its hues fill circles, lines, bars.
Darker the red, harrowing it meant.
Orange and yellow were signs of mend.
But then I heed to words unfamiliar,
strung together, to form headlines so distinct.
They seemed to be stories of positivity, love, care
and those of hope, courage, wisdom and self-care.
Acts of kindness and selflessness
splattered across the page.
Their monochrome headlines in its brevity,
eclipsed the red shades of its vivacity.
Venerated were the workers and caregivers
as images from hospitals faded in and out.
Their tedious bodies working, day and night;
braving their lives with all their might.
Skirmishes, politics, ridicule, hubris —
seemed like minuscule fragments;
sitting beside herculean stories
of love, support and recoveries.
Story after another, as I read,
it enunciated in summary, the word empathy.
The entire world seemed to be in unity,
to construe the definition of humanity.
I sip on my coffee, eyes deflected, wondering..
It took a pandemic to perceive,
that we possess — can embrace —
veracity, accord, reverence and altruism.
— Neha Jayaprakash
© Neha J 2020
