“I’m present mam!” – Suha

Suha 

I woke up,
Alarm was ringing.
My heart being to jump,
Regretting the excited thinking.

Debating whether it’s uniform or a color,
The shouting chef was my mother.
Packing the bag and lunch,
With a spoon of curry brunch.

My shoulders were back on duty,
Of carrying books of beauty.
With bottles of water,
and sanitizer.

A deep breath,
Full of joy and worth.
Setting my mind with a disco song,
Which was a school distance long.

Pinching my arms,
To find the “really?” storms.
Seeing the familiar town,
With masked people grin.

Busy people, busy road,
With noise which was ignored.
I enter the school,
With a Mask as a rule.

Saying “Hi” to everyone I knew,
The unfamiliar friends were a few.
Sitting on my seat,
Marathon was my heartbeat.

Teacher enters as the bell rang,
And chit-chatters are my type of gang.

Seeing my friends,
disrupting other classes,
studying in a seat,
Eating in a circle,
making silly jokes,
Planning stupid pranks.
The day was sweet as honey,
Bright and sunny.

The 8 hours of that day,
Were my 1st day.
Of the start and the end,
With no assignments to send.
between school and the house,
With no answers to browse.

Without a laptop and a chair,
No fear-bound burden to bear.
Was my 1st day to clear,
As my dreams come to cheer.

There is no end to it,
Cuz tomorrow,
“I’m present mam!”

Suha is tenth standard student of Paramita school of Karimnagar. This poem expresses of her jubilant spirit that itself a manifestation of all students who have been absent due to wave after wave in the pandemic times.