Him Alone Poem by Vivek Pradhan

A young face with a smile
A face with eyes that sigh
His mother’s run away with another,
His father went looking for his mother
Out of school and out of parents,
He starves for over a fortnight.
‘Father took brother and sister, ’ he says
His pain and longing darken and hollow his eyes
He smiles. Now he serves food to strangers

A life lost, a blow of the toughest kind.
A story out of the classics,
A life more poignant than Jude’s.
A mind already beaten at 14.

A disappointed smile
On a young mind
Lost in the land of his birth
Why did I listen to his story
Why did I ask him his name
A character out of the novels
A story to be heard and told
No relatives, no friends,
All unknown. Its none but
Him alone.