Termites: Gnawing Pockets !!!

I saw this lady in a metro train with a baby collapsed in her arms and the myriad of people passing by her, with not a single kind heart taking a single step towards her to offer her help.... We, the supposed "Samaritans"!! Huh!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I saw her from a distance, perched on the footpath,

Hardly draped into anything

Shreds of clothes hanging loose on her body

Disheveled hair, strands flying away revealing the receding hairline

Heavy eyelids burdened with the cruelties of life

Blues of eyes colorless with harshness

Rolling drops acknowledging the inadvertent acceptance

Parched lips parted in a futile prayer

The soul pleading silently for the life of the inanimate body of the child, laid in front of her

Living or dead, hard to make out

Not older than ten years

An uncorked empty bottle of medicine tethered to the uncontrollable wind

Some bread crumbs littered around his body

A flock of crows eyeing at the sumptuous food

While dogs licking it clean taking breaks only to sniff at the almost lifeless body

An old brass plate sparsely filled with some dried fallen leaves

No nickel shines from the plate

No one from the passing crowd seems to have even noticed the shattered lady awaiting the end of her child’s life

As I come closer I find her body paralyzed with pain

I give her a sympathetic look and move on with the crowd

Just like everyone else, disappearing from the pitiful beckoning sight

Ignoring, if any urges to help, spare two words of kindness or stroking the cold bodies breathing life

“I can’t let such things gnaw at my pocket and neither do I have the time for something so unimportant, after all it does not help me get a new business deal or does it!”

 I just move on like everyone else.

 

 

Reviews

[The Outlaws' Song]

This is absolutely brilliant and heart-breaking!!! I've been in this situation many times in my life..Romania, my country, is known all over the world for its strays and beggars!! Many of us pass them by, ignoring, not even noticing they are there...dirty, hungry, helpless, dead!!! Many of us think they're just pretending!!!! We pass them by regardless to their fate..without any regrets or second thoughts. Sometimes, but very rarely, someone would give them money or ask them if they're okay...but these people, probably used to our ignorance, are savage, they have probably forgotten how to receive someone else's help.
Even scientific theories have proven that the more people there are around a stranger in need of help the less likely he/she will receive actual help. You know why??? Because each person will think the same "Why should i help him. There are so many people around...someone else should do it"...hilarious and cruel in the same time.

Your poem is a great lesson about how selfish and self-centered we are...and we don't even know about it.
We pass the helpless by....the regrets pass us by ...so fast!!!!

I loved your creation and i will definitely save it in my library!!! Awesome work!!!!!
Many many kudos!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Airbender]

It’s a beautifully crafted piece of work. Loved the caption, the way it depicts the feeble baby & busy life & loved the way you captured all to create one panoramic view of the mother & apathetic us around that.

[JC]

you noticed and you created an immensely rich picture that immortalizes them and reveals what we should all be looking at.

[Pradeep Nair]

"Not older than ten years"--- I got thunderstruck here..
"Some bread crumbs littered around his body
A flock of crows eyeing at the sumptuous food"- The situation is described as in a picture... powerful words... what to say...

Just this much... keep going.. you are too good...

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[Kerry]

This piece is a sad commentary on the ways of the world as it relates to helping others. Love the description you gave of the woman. This poem describes, with depth and character, a situation that many of us face everyday. Nicely done!

[lazyknight]

good poem and even better feelings...ones that i often experience myself...having spent years travelling in public transport in Delhi i v become familiar with the inhabitants of its roads...or at least i v become familiar with their sight...and im also familiar of the apathy that the people of this city express towards the less fortunate around us...i have witnessed such scenes myself...wished that i could help.the moment passes and you move on...feeling a tad guilty for the next few minutes...i often think its the price of conscience...i often feel lucky that i atleast experience it...and i feel stabbed about the fact that i become iron fotted when confronted with it....keep writing

[Greg Skura]

Great write! This is a difficult situation and we as a civilized world do not always act civil to people in need.
When we witness something like this and do not act our conscience has a way of making us aware if we are in this situation again we will at least try. Thank You for sharing!

[Life Calling!!!]

Wow! This is such a hard hitting piece of reality that it makes a dent in the heart when one reads it! How materialistic we have become that even such a moving sight does not eke out our sympathies...we do not have even a moment to spare for such people.......in truth, it is us that is crippled and paralyzed...by our materialistic/profiteering/'this-is-my-world-i-need-to-make-it-good' attitude.....it is us that really needs help! Beautiful emotions, vivid imagery....the flow is a bit rough and jarry, but I guess it was meant to be...so as to be able to strike the reader.

God Bless!

[Nikhil Sharda]

briliant piece of work