3 Poems

By: Ndaba Sibanda

Corona Poems

A Poor Person’s Precarious Paces And Spaces 

Her efforts to hold back, to hold herself back
Against hurtling and hurting herself helplessly
With a hungry, tiny child strapped to her back
Are a betrayal, as she bursts into tears and fury
Her hiding husband betrayed her, battered her
She is on the brink of soundness, she is shaky
Hoping to ward off hunger and helplessness
Famine weighs on her fragile body, her mind 
As she takes precarious steps that are oblivious
To the world of lockdowns and social distancing
She is dead, deaf, defenseless against a new reality
Ushered in by an eerie, unseen virus, she wobbles on

To All the Frontline Healthcare Workers

A planet
caught up 
in anxiety,
a myriad, a cloud
of uncertainties  
a globe 
caught up
in the vortex
of a spiteful virus 
calls for clear heads
that don't freak out
but stay calm, cool 
enough to respond
to all possible preventive
measures and guidelines 
 
A world 
hard-pressed to find
a person who is unaffected
must restrict the spread
of a virus whose trail
is a hurt body, a loss 
or a hurt health system
or a hurt economy 
and a hurt humanity
The infected are to seek 
medical attention pronto,  
all persons are affected,
all to refrain from feeding
the chaos or anxiety 
for there is life, a lesson
after the frenzied storm
as the health heroes 
fight and sacrifice 
with a bravery 
that seeks to save
lives even in the core
of a breaking point
 
A turbulent time
calls for unity, 
for the melting
of hearts

    
Here is a hard-hit earth 
that has to fight for
humanity from various
angles
with a singularity 
of purpose that knows no walls
of bias and ego but gates
of lenience
and alliance   
 
For the frontline
healthcare workers—
the planet salutes you—
You can’t be thanked, 
appreciated enough— 
whether the cases 
spike or decline 
for your valor, verve,
love and selflessness.

My Friend’s River Beauty

why they live in water
it's a mystery, in a river
 
they possibly tuck into it—
seaweed, and swim ashore
 
they also dine on fish, crabs, 
clams, shrimp, oysters, lobster
 
my dear friend fell in love 
with one of them, his beauty!
 
a faraway river is their rendezvous 
he confesses she`s romantic and fun!
 
though these days the two lovely lovebirds 
barely hang-out owing to self-distancing!  
 
I think she is human, after all
except that she has the tail of a fish
 
and no wonder she pees and poops
from her belly button, so says my chum!    

June 22, 2020

Bulawayo, Zimbabwe

Read his blog here.