Every night I bid the stars goodbye,
to blow my scars into the blue dye.

I envy the stars that fly freely,
caged in a room, I murmur slowly.

Days spent on the battlefield still flash across me,
gun in one hand and the other clasping my wounded knee.

Bullets and bombs had made me a great runner,
I couldn’t risk dying, being the family’s breadwinner.

From firing pistol shots to helping my mate,
I’ve seen nightmares defining my fate.

Fear gripping me as I walk past every hidden mine,
I wished to undo the war by travelling back in time.

A German soldier once held a barrel on my head,
I fought for my life as my troop shot him dead.

Life had a meaning that day,
months later the war ended, but horrors were meant to stay.

Priscilla had treasured all the letters I’d written for her in menace,
I reread every one of them after she rested in peace.

Many glorious years I spent with her in love,
three amazing kids were a blessing from above.

I will be with her tonight,
so, a final letter to my kids, I write.

I escaped the barrel that day only to fight an invisible enemy today,
In my dreams, I can hear my grandchildren mischievously play.

The bloodied fields on which I fought for independence is collapsing,
every hour new infected cases are rising.

The world war threw shells detonating beside me crossing the spiky fence,
but this melancholy war on hospital bed has stripped me of all the sense.

Those who touch me wear a tight mask,
I try to tell them that I’m still alive, but they won’t even ask.

It’s been a month since I’ve left my family and home,
all colours have drained, leaving only monochrome.

Doctors whisper the instructions to the nurse,
she steps back to rub her hands with a liquid as if relieved from a curse.

I lay in the hospital bed wide awake gaping the ceiling,
coughs and fever has transformed my body beyond healing.

What will I say to Priscilla when I meet her in paradise?
Does she know that our kids socially distanced me as per official advice?

Maybe I was destined to be carried into the afterlife alone,
the giant war passed by me, but the tiny viral enemy has engraved my name on the tombstone.