Between the Lines...

Sitting at home, listless

Tired of the never-ending news reports doing the rounds

But even more so of the commotion

and of countless scattered sounds

It is getting a bit too much, some say

But others believe there’s no other way

It’s all a bit too complicated

And all of the world is in the fray

Nuclear warheads, tanks and bombs

We were all in readiness to turn the world into catacombs

Until we realized

That Ours is a world

Fragile and bite sized

War, terror, and disease

Forget about all that, because we’re scared of a sneeze

Between the lines, we’ve all realized

That ours is a world

So insecure, brittle and fragile

Pay no heed to the news stories doing the rounds

On the internet and in newspapers

All of it is of no use, neither science nor skyscrapers

Between these lines, we seem to have realized

That life is a possession, priceless yet prized

And the people around us

Are more than mere contact names

Perishing in the dust

All of it, my friend, is a wake-up call

That life is vulnerable, and death is the end

And that nobody’s untouched

Because death’s for all

Between the lines, lies the truth

The truth that we’ll all perish

And scatter away like soil

Nothing came to our rescue, neither money nor oil

In the end, it can be said

That all of us dwell between the lines

Of good deeds and heinous crimes

All of it is murky and grey

And that nothing is here to stay

Between the lines, we’ve realized

That ours is a life, perishable and downsized

It took us really long to realize this, alas!

But hopefully, this too shall pass