At the Heart of COVID

[Pranathi Siva]

“I can’t breathe”
He yelled
And you upturned an entire nation,
For him.

You burnt it to the ground
Gave innocent people living hell
For him.

Every single nation on earth
Concerned itself with you
Watched as you raged madness
For him.

You made it so that
Not a single soul can utter the words 2020
Without saying his name, you did it all
For him.

Now I lay here
On my hospital bed
Death to the left of me
Death to the right of me

Now I lay here
On my hospital bed
Haven't done any wrong
Haven’t had a single hand strangle me.

Yet I scream
“I can’t breathe”
Why does no one hear me?
Why does no-one respond?

How can they when I scream
In my head?
How can they when they
Hear no words?
How can they when they
Aren’t even here beside me?

You raised hell on earth
When one man could not breathe.

Now we lay here
In millions
Screaming, pleading, begging
To be given one last breath
And are told they have no air.

What sins did I commit?
What sins did the little boy beside me commit?
What sins did they woman crying on the floor commit?
What sins did the old man lying beside me,
Having no clue he has lost his beloved wife, commit?

What did any of us do
To face such a plight?

What did any of them do
To be safe and sound?
To go to school, to see their friends and
family?
To live?

I’ll tell you what,
We were born on one side of the ocean
And them on the other.

No matter how much desire I possess
No matter how much money I possess
I cannot break the ocean in two.

So I,
I will die here
Screaming “I can’t breathe”
While all those I hold dear to my heart
Sit and stare on their screens
Unable to swim the waters that separate us.

They say blood is thicker than water
I beg to differ.

I will die here
Surrounded by all those screaming
“I can’t breathe”
While you all sit and count us
As mere numbers of the once living now gone

I will die here
Suffocating
And watch as the world goes by
Without even noticing

I will die here
And you will live there
And whatever you do,
Live for me.
Don’t you dare die on me.