#WheresMyPlayground – I Used To Smile With Sweat Greasing My Face

I USED TO SMILE WITH SWEAT GREASING MY FACE

There was a wetness in the air

Humidity drenching into his t-shirt

It wasn’t sweat

He hadn’t moved all day

It was the wind playing with his head

Look at me it said

Swishing back and forth

Watch me play and sweat

Like you used to

Only now it is just me

He looked longingly outside

Through the bars of his window

Like he was jailed

Or maybe not

Maybe it is the earth that is jailed

All the window grills

Of his house and every other in the world

They had jailed earth

For the earth had committed the crime of treason

It helped the mothers give birth to us

While it was bearing a child of its own

Called it the corona virus

And sent it to play among the children of the mothers

Earth had committed the crime of treason

For it laced the air

With his mischievous child

While letting him play earth slept for months

Now earth was imprisoned

And the boy saw through the grills

Its been months and months

The boy had stayed home

Playing and drawing

Chess and ludo

He kept checking his arms

Pinching it sometimes

Hoping they would shed the tears of happiness

That was called sweat

For the times he ran outside

His sweat was his smile

Now he couldn’t find it

His mind bogged with clouds

His shoulders and eyes hurt

From being put inside a house

While the air teased

As it drenched him in humidity

The boy looked out longingly

And thought

Why is it that

The prison cell of earth

Holds my smile

I want to run around more

To sweat and smile

Inside I am

Separated from the treacherous earth

By walls and grills

Waiting for his son

The corona virus to get his death sentence

But what do we do?

When the judges can’t find the man to kill

What do I do?

Why do I feel imprisoned?

In the heat of the day, I sweat

But it no longer makes me smile.

Nandhitha Babuji is a 18-year-old aspiring poet from Tamil Nadu, passionate about using her words to show solidarity against children’s issues.