RESPITE HALLELUJAHS
Your reign inhabits
Priests, Tribal Leaders, Mothers,
Children, Prisoners and Bus Drivers
Your royalty is not a surprise
Your vengeance circumventing the globe is
Ready or not, you invade,
crystalline droplets one by millions
Your corona drowns the air of thousands
and thousands and thousands
How will we come to know
When will we understand
Will we ever appreciate
Will truths be known in a year’s time
Or in our lifetimes
What really happened, when, where
Even those who are not infected are
Fear, anxiety, stress, grief, sorrow, ruin
Your crown shines bright and is of many colors
Everyone holding their own hue near and far
Reality mixes with the cousins surreal
fantasy wears thin veils and sneaks around
hours become blue days and blue days
become orange hours
Routines become respite hallelujahs
while hushed prayers on bended knees wash over
back and forth and back and forth
desperately trying to drown uncertainty
in the rough seas of our imaginations
Corona today you are sovereign
This war between virus and humans
A caution, a Mayday, an admonition
A chapter out of who’s demonic playbook
What are we to learn, to appreciate, to sulk
One day, predictors narrate potential victories
Academies, experts, virologist, scientist, they all sing
Melodies of hope, concerts for a victor vaccine
A vaccine that will in future crush your pointy crowns
One day, how will we know, how will we understand
will we ever appreciate the lessons of your reign
Who will be our guide, who will turn the pages
Who will put the chalk away at the end of the day
By
Elena M. Arosemena
