Covid Poetry - Doctor's Dilemma, Poetry as a Narrative Medicine

“A great scourge befell on humanity, stunning it into silence, freezing its random motions, emptying its busy thoroughfares, its bazaars, its temples, sucking our vital life from its souls.” Playgrounds where children once frolicked in mirth now resemble Roman ruins. Megalopolises where people recently bustled with people now lay bare. Eyes that ought to have joy became ridden with anxiety. Man got cut off from Man, nay, even became the enemy of Man, besotted with a germ that poisoned the air that we inhaled. Every breath became deliberate, laborious, and laden with caution, for it could be one of the last. The “spirit” in “respiration” barely blew life into soulless bodies. Human touch became a rarity, vigorous handshakes, bear hugs, back pats, a thing of the past. Devoid of life-enabling touch, social man-animals roamed like solitary cats. Was it the will of gods, or just a curse brought upon Man by Man? This is the dilemma that confronts us–weakening human resolve, punishing our feeble minds with self-doubt.