It was long long ago
We began staying home
Our minds could wander
Bodies could not roam
Schools were all shut
Except for virtual class
Tom, Dick and Harry
Everyone would pass
Year after cruel year
Viruses ruled the Earth
Of vaccines too
There was no dearth
Children grew up
Without giving an exam
Activists too forgot
What is called a scam
Learning did not stop
Even if was all crap
The biggest University
Was called WhatsApp
Paperless was the rule
Digital was the world
Virtual heads of state
Virtual flags unfurled
Churches were closed
No one owned up sins
Aadhaar was enough
And of course vaccines
For a newborn child
It was a terrible curse
As the midwife was
A sterile robot nurse
What luck that child
Let out a big scream
And jolted me awake
From a very real dream…
(Raju Z. Moray is a Mumbai-based lawyer who enjoys writing poems. He is the author of two books ‘Court Jester'(2017) and ‘The Locked Down Lawyer'(2020))
