As the sun rose up
Heralding the arrival of a new day,
Thoughts crowded my mind
Tormenting me, as on my bed I lay
Ahead of me waited,
Another taxing day of work;
The fresh greenery of calmness
Inside me, eroded into murk
As a doctor in the pandemic,
A billion responsibilities I shouldered,
Broken apart pieces of my community,
Back together I soldered
Every day was laborious,
My body begging me to stop
But I held myself strongly together,
Willing myself not to drop
It is for the good of my people, I thought
I felt proud for serving my country,
Yet a thought burrowed its way inside my mind,
A thought that wasn’t paltry
The corona pandemic was tough on everyone,
But it was the toughest on me;
While everyone relished their unexpected vacation,
I never got the joy of being free
Day and night, I worked hard
Racing against time to defeat the virus;
I’d convinced myself that I was fine,
But the ache to have a rest was desirous
My bones ached and my limbs shaked,
My head hurt a ton and more;
My eyes strained against my brain,
Every part of me was sore
Though it was my mind that suffered the most,
My emotions gone haywire;
Donning a mask of joy for my patients,
Even if it was for their good, I felt like a liar
How do you tell a hopeful mother,
That her child may not live?
That you tried everything you could,
But you have nothing left to give?
It’s hard to witness a son grieving his parents,
Watch as he says goodbye;
You interrogate yourself further,
Was that the best you could’ve done, did you really try?
You watch, as a young girl
Begs her dearest friend not to go;
You can do nothing to ease her pain now,
You don’t have the power to run the show
Yet again, it is your turn for despondency
When it is your own family you witness,
Withering away in the clutches of calamity;
Try as you might, you can’t be their safety harness
I question myself daily,
Was it worth the pain to choose this profession?
When tiny molecules of a virus we cannot see,
In a second, abraded everyone’s determination
A day comes, when you lose all hope
It may already be here, or further still
But this morose moment no one can avoid,
The day that tests the intensity of your will
When everything is lost and time slows down,
Presenting to you what you may call your failures;
You need to pace yourself and look further,
To see the people who know you as god’s own saviours
The people I fought hard for,
Battling the wars inside;
Hunting down every last particle of the virus,
Leaving for it no place to hide
The pain is great but the satisfaction is greater,
When I managed to sacrifice
Another ounce of my own health,
To give my patients the joy of living life twice
I often confuse times and dates,
When I’ve been working constantly for days;
But every time I help a family,
That gratification from my mind is never erased
Machines beeping, sufferers weeping,
Noises that have been ingrained in my brain;
But a patient’s sweet melody of laughter,
Surpasses the intensity of every pain
People everywhere donning blue,
Out of dress code or gloom, I can’t decipher;
Yet the colours of mirthful conversations
Veil the despair, a perplexing cipher
A droplet of an invisible virus
Might have stuttered our valor for a bit,
But our species undeterring,
The virus couldn’t impair our grit
Fervor reigns once again; you feel elated to inform
A mother who had lost all hope,
That death failed its task to steal away her child;
That it ran away when you severed its rope
You witness a son cherishing the gift,
The gift of life you gave to his family,
When you managed to achieve the impossible,
And rescue his parents from the calamity
You watch, as a delighted young girl
Spends all day playing with her friend;
You crafted their joy with your own hands,
You gave back her life before it could end
Yet again, it is your turn for ecstasy,
When it is your own family you behold
Steadily going back to the ordinary,
Expectations for their well-being, you did uphold
I might question my choices
A hundred times and more,
But every little joy I cause, every patient saved
Strengthens my resolve fourscore
The pandemic was tough, but I was tougher
My soul may not be religious
But I thank god for giving me the chance;
To ensure that throughout, I was courageous
I serve my community and I do it faithfully,
Day and Night, I spend defeating the pandemic
My silent efforts are more effective
Than any belligerent polemic
Slowly shaping my community back to one,
As I drive away all pernicious ailments from coast;
Because at the end of yet another day,
Isn’t that what matters most?
Knowing that my hard work is paying off,
It certainly was all worth it;
Glittering smiles all around me,
Brightening up the room like torches lit
So, as the sun rose up once again,
Heralding the arrival of morning a-new,
I too rose with renewed vigor
My will and strength plentiful, and complaints few.