The train chugs into another concrete
mass that promises dreams,
those holed up in the high cubicles
don’t look down it seems.
How the pace of life and burden of
expectations weighs down,
as the dark allies, corners, streets
blur in the dazzle of tinsel town.
See through the charade of malls,
flyovers and high rises,
sift through the filth, the slums,
the rot, that everyone despises.
In those realms of hopelessness, struggle
and abject misery,
shall you find smiling faces, tiny
little feet, bare but satisfactory.
Half torn shirts, dirty feet, rough
hands, oblivious to the city around,
Expectations burden, families
shouldered, their solace lies in dump grounds.
Run, play, sleep, earn in what others
refuse to use,
Sans books, schools, uniforms, their
world painted in harsh hues.
Rejection awaits at every step, as
they face the world on their own,
in cities filled with millions of
people, they find themselves alone.
Yet as their tears run dry, they
toil away, smiling, searching for their bliss,
as those little feet roam in dump yards,
innocence isn’t lost, but childhood is.
©Copyright Darshil A Shastri
nice lines...
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