The Beggar - Mallika Menon

The broad and well kept thoroughfare
Got cuddled with its heavy traffic.
The town was over crowded with
folks of each and every league.

I was walking through the street
My eyes were searching for his sight.
When I saw him he was
in quest to stop his hunger with
rotten fruits and leftovers
from a waste bin next to him.
That place seemed his home itself
And the sky just turned as roof of it!

Agedness with illness had played a role
to make his body frail to the core.
The torn and soiled clothes of his
Seemed to be there in name only.
The dull and void look in his eyes
Conveyed me the miseries
in which he was going through.

He had spread a filthy cloth
infront of him as usual.
By using stones on all four sides
it was well tucked to the ground.
Someone's generosity glittered well
in that rag as few coins.

His shivering hand had saluted all
Even someone who showed disgust as well.
The word ego was not meant for him,
A pauper did not know its meaning!
People who never had endured with the wretchedness of poverty,
did not even bother him,
but murmered in between them that,
Why should he be there as a 'trouble mirth',
with utter contempt in their looks.

One of his feet had a bandage
and tried his best to conceal it.
I could see the blood like substance
Oozing from it continuously.
Paining wounds and starvation
had made his status so pathetical.
He was always accompanied by
Countless torments as his shadow.
To satisfy the call of hunger
He had to go through all those sufferings.

By seeing this sight made me think
With how much luck I have been born!
Then and there I took an oath,
To be contented with what I have!
I didn't forget to thank Almighty
With gratitude and love in my mind!
For granting me His precious grace,
All through in my life ardently!


(Mallika Achuthan Menon)