FIVE HANDS 
                  
                             prerna mishra, 2009


25 tiny fingers sliding its way,
To find the maximum amount,
To satisfy the hunger
The hunger that is as old as the finger.

The plate carrying chunks of food
Is holding five hands.

Unaware of hygiene,
Alien to sanitation,
Living in a known hell.

These five children,
Are having their cherished meal.

Born with an inborn disease
Of Poverty.

Slavery and begging
Being the symptoms,

Education that may be the medicine
Is beyond the dream………

Harassed by the symptom
Hopeless by the disease,
Are these buds.

finding the gem in scrap 
Eating the left over,
Burning in sun
Shivering in winter.

Is it that
For which the bud must sprout?

“It hurts to see them”
Is what we comment.
The feeling vanishes
As the sight vanishes.

Briskly walking
We even fail to give a second look.

Nowhere they are part of our dreams
Somewhere they are in government projects
The project complete………
An endeavor incomplete…………

 

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