Today in this city
Why is everyone afraid?
Why
Are faces pale?
In the alleys and lanes
Why is there
Silence in the stupefied air?
And over familiar eyes
Why is there a veil of strangeness?
The city
Is hushed in its chains,
Looking like a fettered criminal.
Here and there
Someone passes by.
Why is the scene clouded
By the dust of fear?
To earn their evening meal
A few people emerge from their houses;
But why do they turn and look back to their home?
Today
Even in the bazaar
The familiar noise is absent.
Everyone walks as if
The ground was made of glass.
Every glance
Avoids the eyes of others.
Nothing
Can be expressed openly.
Everything seems
To hold its breath.
Today
The city is like a frightened child,
Afraid even of its own shadow.

Look at the calendar.
I think
Perhaps there is some festival today.