Covid-19 Virus Pandemic And Accompanying Thoughts Poem by Gayathri Seetharam

COVID-19 virus pandemic and accompanying thoughts
-Gayathri B. Seetharam
I had a sepulchral thought
That the COVID-19 virus pandemic
Would last longer than expected
And it got me down in the dumps;

I cheered up with the thought
That my husband "comes home to his wife every night of the week"
Rather than work late and go to a bar to watch hockey with his buddies
We end up watching the telly or a movie separately or together once in a while
Peace reigns in our household this way;

I shall digress and bring up the matter of the third ethics investigation
Of PM Justin Trudeau by the House of Commons
But in all fairness, how is he responsible if his wife, Sophie Gregoire,
Gets paid $250,000 for 28 talks by WE, the charitable organization;

Tarry a while while I make you aware of the fact
That the likes of we get paid a Subway luncheon
For a talk in a female family friend, Rocio's high school class in Fall 2003,
And in fond memory of my driving days, I shall drink an Ernest Hemingway daiquiri to it;

It has been a symbiotic process
My and our family and friends' generosity
But in lieu of the fact that I have not made payment for my original published work
Not for lack of efforts on my part,
I must make mention of the fact that my elder brother and his wife
Presented me with some jewellery all of which were my dear mother's gifts to her daughter-in-law, a few years ago;

My mother, a little hurt by this, but covering this certain or imagined slight,
Suggested that I sell some of it to a jeweller of known repute, her contact,
And lo and behold! The jeweller, like "a giant hog in a pasture rich with truffles, after unearthing this truffle and that, still it smells a bigger, a blacker truffle under the ground further off. So" my jeweller with his trained eye, "snuffed always in the rich earth of Mayfair another truffle, a blacker, a bigger further off"
And gave me a nice sum in rupees which my oldest nephew exchanged into $4000 total in Canadian currency
For a Thank You gift of Rs.3000;

Coming back to present day in Toronto in Canada
When I could not but help admiring the woody structure of our maple tree
Which alas! Pollinates and grows maple boughs all around
In our hedge and garden that are firmly entrenched
And need to be dug all around and the soil loosened with spades and rakes and small shovels
And the roots of the maple boughs and weeds grown into plants
Will dislodge from the soil and I was successful in removing one maple bough
But the others are tough customers and need more muscle or more skillful cajoling;

The sugar maple tree I shall draw maple syrup from this winter
For it is a fascinating thought that such hard wood has so much of tasty syrup
Lucy Maud Montgomery (the author of Anne of Green Gables)has said: Maples are such sociable trees... They're always rustling and whispering to you.
John Burroughs, the American essayist has said the undeniable truth that: I always feel at home where the sugar maple grows.... glorious in autumn, a fountain of coolness in summer, sugar in its veins, gold in its foliage, warmth in its fibers, and health in it the year round.

Resuming as I, Gayathri B. Seetharam, the maple tree in our home
Is symbolic of our life in Toronto after my son was almost a year old
And I say that the maple tree represents Canada
And the PM, Justin Trudeau, despite his unbending but complimentary self
Has a syrupy side to him and he is going to publish and pay me and fund me for my next 50 endeavours.

Acknowledgements:
1. Mike Shelley
2. Virginia Woolf
3. AZ Quotes