EMPTY AND FULL

The car stops at the corner,
The street is empty and bare,
No need to wonder at the barren roads,
It’s the new normal we all have to live by,
It’s another way of life we have to get used to,
For we have made our hearts concrete just as the city.

The car travels on
Passing fields green with vital fife,
Rolling rivers team with brimming new life,
Mountains purple with shadows of passing clouds,
Birds and beasts roaming the now newly reviving wilds.
Denuded nature is returning to its pristine state and restful fullness.

*Friday Fictioneers is a talented group of enthusiasts penning down a story, a poem, prose, etc., expressing their heart about a photo prompt © Na’ama Yehuda

EGGING ON

https://youtu.be/pa4dyeu9Cdk

Morning dawns
Evening falls
Sun shines
Moon beams
Flowers bloom
Fruits ripen
Grass grows
Trees sway
Wind blows
Waves beat
Births happen
Deaths occur.

Pandemic or not,
Life has to gone on.

For better or worse
For good or bad
In sickness or in health
In poverty or in riches
With love or hate
With goodness or meanness
We are all in this together.

Stand fast,
For this too shall pass away!

Let’s go on
Keeping faith till the last!

*Friday Fictioneers is a talented group of enthusiasts penning down a story, a poem, prose, etc., expressing their heart about a photo prompt © Todd Foltz

CHECKMATE

Here we are the midst of a pandemic struggle,
Wondering how we got into this morbid bubble.
Searching for ways to overcome this present trouble,
Trying to unravel and solve this terrible viral puzzle!

Are we hapless pawns moved about in a board game,
Having no clue or sense about those who want to proclaim domain.
Who is to be believed when we don’t control the mainframe,
How long before we all blow up in a blue flame!

Let’s not lose heart for mankind has never failed,
To rise up from ashes of what we have often veiled.
Humanity has a rebooting system within it engrailed,
Never fear, we will soon overcome what we have inhaled!

*Friday Fictioneers is a talented group of enthusiasts penning down a story, a poem, prose, etc., expressing their heart about a photo prompt © Ted Strutz

KAMALAM

The lotus flower is sacred to many cultures and the pink lotus is the national flower of India.

Symbolic of purity, beauty, majesty, grace, fertility, wealth, richness, knowledge, serenity, enlightenment, self-regeneration and rebirth, many a child in India is called Kamala or Kamal etc, from its name Kamalam.

As it displays beauty while growing in dirtiest waters, it is thought to represent the human race.

Every portion of the lotus flower, ie. its stems, roots, seeds, petals, stamens etc, is used by Asians in food, drink, medicine and water treatment.

Buddhists weave a special robe for Buddha from the unique fabric made from the lotus plant fibres produced only in Myanmar and Cambodia.

*Friday Fictioneers is a talented group of enthusiasts penning down a story, a poem, prose, etc., expressing their heart about a photo prompt © David Stewart

SHOPPING MADE EASY

Shopping was a hobby and pastime when I was studying, working and single. Marriage and kids didn’t stop this hobby.

As the family grew, responsibilities increased and my energy decreased. So shopping became a delight relegated to special times such as festivals, weddings and gifts.

However, when incidental costs such as for travel became high, I discovered the delights of online shopping and became an expert in it.

Online shopping is like investing in stocks or playing the stock market. To gain good returns you need to know and assess the trends and be savvy and wise as a stockbroker!

*When COVID protocol was nowhere in sight, I wrote and made a video on both offline and online shopping. In hindsight, it seems that I had been intuitive and prophetic. You can find them in YouTube: https://youtu.be/voSGMMzJgd8

https://youtu.be/8_7kWq4uWYU

*Friday Fictioneers is a talented group of enthusiasts penning down a story, a poem, prose, etc., expressing their heart about a photo prompt ©Jan Wayne Fields

EVERY TIME AT THIS TIME

Every time I happen to meet the sanitary worker responsible for clearing our trash, I stop to smile and thank her. 

Every time I watch the news or posts on medical and healthcare personnel, I appreciate them with a like or comment or a share!

Every time we purchase essential groceries, vegetables, meat and medicines, I thank God for businesses serving the community!

Every time I see the police maintain law and order, doing everything they can, even scaring the populace into quarantine, I bless their sacrifice to ensure our safety

The real super heroes of our times, I salute you!

*Friday Fictioneers is talented group of enthusiasts penning down a story, a poem, a prose, etc., expressing their heart about a photo prompt © C. E. Ayr

SILENT SPIRES & SABBATH SKIES

Silent spires stretching to sabbath skies,
Shuttered openings watch with unseeing stare,
Softly scan empty terrace and desolate street,
Search and say, is the city dead or are we?

Clouds waft over calm cities and cool countrysides,
Noting the noiseless roads and vacant lots.
Wonder with thoughtful gaze as they wander around,
Is humanity lost or just learning again to sleep!

*Friday Fictioneers is talented group of enthusiasts penning down a story, a poem, a prose, etc., expressing their heart about a photo prompt © Roger Bultot

BIRD SONG

I stand by patiently on your window sill,
All I want is for you to hear me sing!
With ears tuned to that harsh metallic ring,
You ignore me forgetting I can thrill you with my skill!

The world has hit the pause button and come to a standstill.
Will we stop to ponder and make this a prelude?
Or continue our headlong rush despite this interlude?
Heaven and earth also wait, as mankind ponders its new will!

*Friday Fictioneers is talented group of enthusiasts penning down a story, a poem, a prose, etc., expressing their heart about a photo prompt © Douglas M. MacIlroy

FOOLED NOT!

My father sent my twin and me to shorthand-cum-typewriting classes after school in our eighth grade. We became the butt end of jokes in school as our friends thought we were fools to do it.

Enrolled in an institute run by a martinet who gave the worst instruments to the newbies, we had to do twelve lines while other students did only six lines. I remember my left pinkie hurting constantly because the ‘a’ key was stuck hard. We endured torture since no one dared go against my father. 

Years later when computers came in, I thanked God for parents who didn’t fool us!

*Friday Fictioneers is talented group of enthusiasts penning down a story, a poem, a prose, etc., expressing their heart about a photo prompt © Jeff Arnold

Small Town Things

Dad was transferred to Tiruvarur on promotion as it’s police head. We joined him during vacations at the end of the school year.

One of the five traditional capitals of the Chola Empire, this town’s life in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu revolved around a famous temple and it’s water tank. We were privileged to witness the temple car festival and the temple tank float festival, the two major events of the town.

Dad lived in one of the four streets that bordered the temple tank. Every night Dad would unwind with a swim round the temple tank. He never missed a day.

*To know more about the town you can access the link https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiruvarur

*Friday Fictioneers is talented group of enthusiasts penning down a story, a poem, a prose, etc., expressing their heart about a photo prompt © C.E.Ayr