Rough, rustic and tell tale
their feet like arid land
exposed to sultry drought.
Their cracked lives sustained
by coarse labour; these gypsy
lives whose tomorrows stretch
along darkening asphalt roads…
They trudged on foot in mute
resilience; braving the crippling heat
a few dropped down in the middle
of nowhere; a journey along
rail tracks, they drifted to the land
of dreams; death arrived on
chugging wheels – like goods and
chattels scattered to pieces,
shepherded to a dreamless world.
Last week, their garden shears
pruned the plants taming
all wild growth. Today
the seeds of guilt left behind
fall on fallow conscience
and dog-eared history
jots down another
forgettable chapter.
A deeply evocative and powerfully visceral piece.It is ever the hallmark of a true Poet that their work addresses the vicissitudes of contemporary society.
Thank-you Louis Kasatkin
THE POEM TRAILS ON LFES JOURNEY AND THE NEVERENDING ONE TO WALK THROUGH ALL THE ROCKY ROADS OF BURDEN AND PAIN…LIVE AND SURVIVE NICELY WRITTEN…
An excellent poem,brilliantly conceived and executed,filled with insights, and of contemporary social relevance.
A moving comment on the pathetic situation of millions of migrant labourers in India walking home often hungry and thirsty for days on end during the COVID-19 lockdown