A Poor Child, A Poem

SAYS A
‘POOR’ CHILD


I am poor !
I know
You know
And everybody knows.
I am hungry!
I know more than
Anybody else does.


Why I am poor ?
I don’t know
Why I am hungry?
I don’t know
But I do know
I have to survive
With some respect.
Don’t laugh
If I say ‘respect’
For I do have some
If not your variety.


I beg of you
Not for money
Not for food or clothes
But to leave me
Alone with my poverty,
And not to dramatize it,
Or to take pity on me.
For pity is not
What I want.
Help me in a quiet way
Consistent with my self respect
If you can.
Yes! Self respect
For being poor
Is not something
I need be ashamed of.


Nor do I need any concessions
Or privileges
Which demean me,
The very thought of which
Saddens me,
For it lowers me
In my own eyes.


But if you should help me
Achieve my full potential,
I should feel proud of myself,
And of you.
And you in turn
Will feel proud of me
And happy
With yourself.


So let us
Join hands together
And do proud
To each other
And start a new
Brotherhood order! WRITTEN BY MY FRIEND RAM VARMA FROM HIS BEDRIDDEN STATE...BROUGHT TO U BY SUNKAN