Thanks to COVID-19 hype
I’m confined to my home
Saved by electronic gadgets
Walks are dreadful alone
Kids roam free in apartment above
Revved up by grown-up fights
My TV drowns their noise at times
As I chant, “Calm. Breathe. Focus.”
I can opt for an excursion to stores
Be screened at doors for masking
Directed down bare, one-way aisles
Like ants to cash out, and idling
Mental checklist now the norm:
• Bring a mask and bracket ✓
• Enter correct entry doors ✓
• Follow arrows and paths ✓
• Stay within two meters ✓
Or bear the meanest screams
Would COVID-19 get me first
Or fear, or financial ruin?
Swapping my freedom
For conformity, compliance
For my safety or for theirs?
In disarray and covered up
I crave for sanity and hope
Haircuts, dental cleaning
Doctor check-ins and meetups
Would help and are overdue
Blessed that I was spared of
Crime my neighbours weren’t
Masking helped a burglar break in
Where video capture wasn’t
Bombed by numbers: ill and dead
Forced to stay at home and wait
For vaccines half a year away
To free me from these barricades
