OR Nini Okey-Uche (Chikwe, No. 2, 1984-88) sent us this beautiful poem, which she was inspired to write by the Coronavirus lockdown where she lives in New York. We hope you enjoy reading it, and thank you Nini for letting us share it with the OR Community.

The Pause

Sleep eludes me when I call,
The sun, moon and stars, squashed in a childs' tender hands like plastacine.
The will to wake and the will to work seldom coincide,
They glide in and out, 
Waltzing to a tune they hear alone.
We now teach without the requisite qualifications,
Suddenly 'clean' is insufficient,
Enter, 'King Sanitize'.
Affection is being recalibrated,
As a distance is forced where skin used to touch her twin, skin.
All defences are disintegrated, 
Arms, wealth, position, beauty and power,
Share food or risk falling victim, to humble untravelled locals under international attack.
Will cremation become the new norm? 
Will mother earth henceforth be denied her committance?
Will unions and units heal their gangrenous aberrations,
Or will endless proximity hunch then break the back of those to whom dominion was gifted?
We live in what was virtual reality,
Wild and once merely creative imaginations are upon us.
We play cops with an invisible robber,
Crippled in paranoia over where he lurks.
Will we ever gather again like sardines revelling in sweet oil?
Will we remain blindly enmeshed,
As we blot out the truth with many a theory of conspiracy?
Will we be driven mad as a precusor for our destruction?
The world spins on an axel in a crowded galaxy,
It is suspended in time that rolls,
It was formed by the Master whose will must be done,
And that will for today is a pause...