An Unknown Artist Poem by Kaki Venugopala Rao

(1) AN UNKNOWN ARTIST

Who's this man?
Face wrinkled,
Body emaciated,
Eyes sunken,
Moving from person
To person in the crowded
Compartment of the running train,
Pouring streams of music
Into all ears, stirring in all hearts
Ripples of raptures,
No gaudy, fashionable instrument
His hands clasp,
But a piece of bamboo,
Aged and dust-laden,
His bony fingers running gently
Over the bamboo-pipe,
Flowing out a stream
Of uncanny melodies,
His feeble frame spinning about
In the compartment,
His bony fingers stretching out
Before wonder-struck eyes
Of passengers for a few coins,
Stands a beggar-artist,
Unknown, and unacknowledged