A Fistful Of Stars: The Urban Refugee
Hariharan Balakrishnan's deeply moving poem persuades us to pay attention to those in our midst who have nothing.
Way back in nineteen seventy one
As I came to that tri-junction
On a busy road in Berhampur
I saw the famished female dog
Sitting on its bony haunches
It did not care for whizzing cars
Nor did mind the mindless bikes
Fear was unknown to its tiny heart
The lowly despised forlorn soul
I stopped my scooter for a while
To see what makes her fearless
And then I saw the mother in her
Sitting next to her new-born pup
Hit by a bike, or was it a truck?
No blood, entrails - a lifeless form
Then I saw a streak of tears
Down the cheeks of the one sans fears
The very same tears - that very haunch
That moved me thirty years ago
Of a hungry mother, the refugee
On a Calcutta street - from Bangladesh.
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If you wish to purchase a copy of Hariharan's wonderful book of poems please contact him by clicking on fabalas02@gmail.com
All profits from the book will be donated to the cause of educating and improving the welfare of children.
H. Balakrishnan
283 Shaheed Nagar
Bhubaneswar 751007
INDIA
Tel.: +919338246725
