Street Children Poem by Nalini Jyotsana Chaturvedi

They throng my car
At red light as I stop
Begging for alms
There I see a whole crop

Curious little faces
They peak inside the car
For a moment they forget to beg
Wondering if one day
They too could be at par

These are street children
Called urchins by all
But how did they happen
Who's fault is it, after all.

They sleep on pavements
Wear tatters for raiments
The invisible future of nation
How easily we forget
They also are Gods creation

Impoverished existence
Life will never give them,
second chance
Living on the fringe
From their mere touch,
we cringe

When they entered this world
Nobody celebrated, no body heard
But they have survived
Despite all the abuses and hurt
Hats off to these angels
Made of pure blessed earth

Weathering with the strong summer heat
And living through winters bone chilling cold
Have they ever learnt to dream
Or they don't need to
Since their destiny, is etched in bold

From rag pickers
To tea stall workers
Scrubbing the train compartments
Subservience has many colours

Self righteous people
The ones like you and me
Disregard them as another pile of trash
For they want money for free

With a mere wave of hand
We shoo them away with such pretence
As if they were not humans
But non beings or fleas
Not shameful of our belligerence.

As I sit mourning
Wasting my time in self pity
I feel so small
Smaller than 'your' identity

God almighty give me chance
And strength to help their lot
May be that will cleanse my sins
If you make me your instrument of sorts