Just do it

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A stranger's distance where I can't see
what he's chuckling at on his phone

is farther than the family faces less than two feet away on a vid call from home
Thank heavens for digital technology. 
I can't travel, you see. 
Sanctioned by an invisible bug
Delivered in incomprehensible late-night ramblings, 
a few heart tugs were attempted 
then back to threats for violating your orders-
the usual kill, beg and now steal.
I thought you are worried about my health and well-being?
'Yes and I will gun you down if you keep protesting.'
Alright. I will keep to my side
but you make sure you do not invade my rights.
The silence in the queue is deafening yet expected
and again we turn to our phones
I can't breathe much less talk through the mask 
you make me wear when we go out of our homes.
And these strangers around me won't be able 
to see me break into a sweat or hear my wheezing 
as I run out of breath and start heaving. 
And if I faint because of the ghastly no-air
we have to endure to keep safe, oh despair
Who would come near me with a directive of two meters apart
when "it's more embarrassing to cough than to fart"?
Can my made-of-plastic, astronaut-clad savior 
bring me to the hospital on time 
past the checkpoints and the thermal scanners 
at every village border, emergency! 
Priority to those who will commit a crime.
And when I get to the hospital,
will I have a lease on life or borrow another's just to survive?
Because my problem is I cannot breathe 
not from the bug but from what you ask of me.


"I am an X in an indeterminate equation. And that X is the rock upon which I stand." - Mario Puzo

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