i. I’m in the Covid cocoon.
Wrapped inside, I struggle, hoping to emerge soon.
As time passes, the cocoon spins tighter; I am not a fighter,
And I ask myself – will I break free?
ii. At first, I push,
I grapple with the walls closing in on me;
I try and I try to break free.
I curse the suffocating trap; it still continues to wrap
itself around my shrieking throat.
iii. Then, I stopped fighting;
I stopped snapping and biting,
and the gossamers of my cocoon
stopped strangling me.
iv. I made the most of my restrictions,
and I stopped letting this affliction
be a constriction
in my life. I started to pave
new roads, in this time so grave.
v. “Will I break free?”
The optimist said, “soon,
think of this time as a boon,
be grateful your cocoon keeps you safe.”
And I thought about this; an argument I couldn’t dismiss.
vi. The pessimist said, “never,
the pain will last forever;
your cocoon asphyxiates you.”
Now, I looked at this
like a never-ending abyss
of strangulation.
vii. Confused, befuddled,
my head was muddled;
I was tired.
I had to move, develop, change
in this frightening and strange
time; I couldn’t let this best me.
viii. I worked in my cocoon,
and played with its threads; soon
it was loose enough for me to make some room.
I expanded my horizons and began to wisen.
I learned to be better
than the tightening filaments that fettered
my limbs, my possibilities.
ix. I spent a year in my cocoon,
and then one more, but now,
the threads stopped throttling me;
I had turned my noose into a necklace.
x. One day, it started swelling,
and I could feel my dwelling
break apart.
The light shone in my eyes,
and I looked up at the skies.
Suddenly, my wings unfurled,
and I flew, flew, flew, high above the world.
xi. Up there, I remembered,
“I couldn’t always fly!”
And I smiled when I realised,
that my cocoon had surprised
me with beautiful wings.
xii. And I let out a laugh, and I started to cry;
my cocoon had made me a butterfly.
Anoushka Sabnis is an award-winning teenage author and poet based out of Delhi-NCR. She is also the Founder of Biblioverse (www.biblioverse.in) – a community for young readers and writers.
Featured image: Walter del Aguila / Unsplash