Clara’s Fourth Birthday

Clara seemed self-conscious on her birthday,

Sitting on a child-chair just outside her garage,

Balloons fluttered dreamily as her mother greeted

The guests and helped with the drinks.

It was a daytime party set outside her house

To ease the terrible trauma of social-distancing,

Neighbors came selectively falling in line with

The group Dad Yashar supports in Boardgate scandal.

They stood in small circles talking nonchalantly about the

Most splendid weather in the last six months,

There were long pauses in conversations,

As two months of lockdown had vacuumed out their excitement.

No one complained about the lack of cake and candles,

Appetizers, champagne, lunch, and dessert,

There were no gifts for Clara,

No hugs and kisses either.

Still Clara seemed enthusiastic and frolicking,

Busy with her friends, coolly ignoring the grown-ups,

Who seemed were just managing to pass time,

Under the siege of Satan corona but never mentioning it.

Suffern, New York, May 3, 2020

maharaj.kaul@yahoo.com