I thought I’d never live to see
Deserted streets and empty church
And empty schools before holy week.
I thought I’d never live to see
Total silence in the concert halls,
All over the world
with actors, singers and dancers
On mass forced vacation.
I thought I’d never live to see
Hospitals bursting with patients
And exhausted medical practitioners.
I thought I’d never live to see
Dead people disposed of
quietly as it were
Without proper farewells
From kith and kins.
It is the protocol,
Said the woman
From whom we follow
strict orders on testing kits
And sanitation.
I thought I’d never live to see
Food packs delivered on
Garbage trucks.
I thought I’d never live to see
Clowns offering love and concern
By way of contrived pictorials.
There is outrageous discomfort
From the pit of my stomach
As I look
at those concerned men and women
seemingly grinning
behind surgical masks.
I thought I’d never live to see
A head of state of a rich country
Shedding honest tears on public television
Helpless over the thousands of sick,
the dying and the dead.
Marooned
for almost nine days now,
I am at the mercy of my grandson
Doing errands while gingerly holding on
To our precious barangay pass
As though our lives depended on it.
On a Monday,
You are marooned
With no choice but to listen
To pompous but empty speeches
In the House of the People.
Marooned
and shaking
With overpowering anger
Coming from the pit of your being,
I thought I’d never live to see
A country reeling from the virus
And rendered helpless
By machinations from men
who hold power.
On the other hand,
I am glad I lived to see
Artists all over the world
Seemingly acting in unison
Offering words of comfort
To distressed citizens
of the world
With few heavenly minutes
of Bach, Verdi and Beethoven.
