Corona Says By Vishnu S. Rai

 Corona Says

 Introduction to writer

Vishnu S Rai (1951-) was educated in India, Nepal, and the UK. He taught English at Tribhuvan University for three decades and retired as Professor of English Language Education. Rai writes both in English and Nepali. He has written stories Martyrs & Other Stories (English), play Realities (English), travelogues Nau Dandapari (Nepali), and a novel Paheli (Nepali).

But above all he is a poet and he has published Sudama (a semi epic in Nepali), Jeevan (a collection of poems in Nepali), Vagabond Verses (a collection of poems in English), and Tritiyaki joon (a collection of songs and gazals in Nepali, and his English poems are taught in Nepal and abroad. Rai is known as a poet of human emotions.

The poem, Corona Says, written on the theme of the present world crisis Corona and its devastating impact on human life, is a subtle satire on man's conduct and attitude. It views Covid 19 as the byproduct of man's treatment to nature.

 

Stop crying,

Oh man,

Stop cursing me

And listen.

I didn’t come here

of my own free will.

 

I was invited.

Believe me,

I had no choice

but to visit you.

How many lives were lost

Because of me?

You count.

But have you ever counted

How many have died so far

Because of you and your wars?

 

You call yourself

‘the crown of creation’.

What about the others,

Those who fly in the sky,

Those who live in the ocean,

Those who crawl on the earth,

And those, the sources of your oxygen?

You think they all are your slaves

Who you can sell or kill

At your will.

 

 

Don’t blame me.

 I just wanted to show you

 How clean the blue sky looks

 Without dust and smoke.

 I wanted you to realise

 How caged animals feel

 In a zoo.

 

 

 I came

Not to give you a test.

 I came

 So that mother Earth

 Could have a little rest.

 

You claim that you know everything.

I just wanted you to know yourself

The earth is not your property alone -

 It’s as much ours as yours.

 

 Sure,

 I will depart one day.

 But remember

 There’re many others like me.

 They’ll come too.

 If you don’t get rid of your inflated   ego,

 You’ll be back to your cave time

 That you endured

 Long, l o n g, l o n g ago …

 

Glossary

cursing (v.): uttering offensive words in anger

crown (n.): authority

slaves (n.): people who are legal property of another and is forced to obey them

ego (n.): a person's sense of self importance

endured (v.): went through