Travesty Of Fate Poem by Ratnakar Rout

The middle aged maid, a graceful lady
was living in the nearby slum,
disappeared for couple of days
It was learnt that her husband had met an accident
and hospitalised unconscious in a hospital
with a brain haemorrhage
We remained in dark
as no message further was available
on the health condition of her husband
One day she appeared desolate
and started sobbing disastrously
All of us were taken aback seeing her emaciated situation
she had already shed her ornaments like a luxuriant tree
shed its leaves during winter
and was looking miserably bare
An ever smiling face used to appear
contented always in spite of tireless work
during the entire day had vanished
Since she was weeping desperately
I could not muster courage to look at her pale grim gruesome face
The rustic, illiterate lady had no other source of income
but to live on as a wage-earner
The only security she had her husband
who was also a manual labourer
But the cruel destiny played foul with the distressed lady
and snatched away the little help she had
and put her in such a gruelling state
from where she had no escape
The husband’s companion was her only solace in life
that God even did not tolerate
A strong, stout and athletic man suddenly passed away like
a bubble of water in everyone’s view
After the awful incident the shaken maid accompanied by her daughter
who was almost a kid started coming to work regularly
Perhaps the child left the study half way
due to propelling poverty. At times
she was expressing her agony before the land lady
and working ceaselessly to keep herself engaged
One day the maid was seen tutoring the child
as to how she would wash the littered
and soiled utensils and make it clean
I just watched and watched the pitiable state of affairs
speechless from the seclusion and became deeply aggrieved
observing as to how the travesty of fate is playing
its game with the impoverished and innocent.