For the real slumdogs

FLOWER OF THE SLUM

Give it just a little love
Even if it’s all
You have
Every day at dawn,
Each night forlorn,
Some grey,
Some bright,
Meet offerings of critique or spite
With an even gentle sunnier smile
And let it sleep a longer while
Allow it the taste of sweet respite.

And love it just a little more
This soul that seeks
Soft succour.
It’s wandering,
Mud meandering
It’s learning to walk,
Trembling and tottering,
Support its unsteady steps
From embracing the cold floor.
It’s wondering,
Vaguely blundering,
Grant it some credit
To reach desire’s door;
It needs a guide
It needs a family
Throw it some anchor
To safely shore.

Let every slumdog
Grasp at one fair chance
Wreck it not
Into doomed defiance.
For every Twist,
One loving glance
May work miracles
To treat its
Malnourished trance.
For every Apu,
Orphaned so young,
A gentler glance
Might glean romance.
For every Jude
Who speaks so rude
Our prayer might redeem
Foul mischance.


We who may torture it to tears
We who may fan its furtive fears
We who steal its childhood joys
We, who’d willingly die for our own boys :


Let’s coax out
the best
In a being
So small
Whom our careless barbs
Could weedy wounds befall
Let us not crush it
Beneath that wanton wall


Of indifference


Basking in the sunshine
Towering above all
Let it bloom
Beautiful
A credit to us all.

GARGI MANDAL-MUKHERJEE

08-04-2009