You might have seen her in one of those Busy junctions when you cursed and pressed The brakes as it turned red as you closed The distance wishing you'd crossed best. Disheveled hair and torn clothes, A not so pleasing scarred face too, A hump and a more pronounced limp, Tapping your windows angering you. Wishing to fry her with your eyes, You see and nod your head quickly. Persistent, she once more tries Selling that color book to you bravely. You mumble your choicest epithet And curse again seeing red still. She raps another window and get One book sold, keep moving till Reaching the farthest corner at last. Your mind registers one thing though. You move on, as its finally green, Wishing it should've already been. When you come the other way again, Its pretty late and the day's been bad. Your requests fell to deaf ears again. And you feel that you've been had. You wish to yell at everyone And break anything in your way. You never expected it, but then Your mind brings a thought to stay. Poorer she may be, but then she Didn't show a trace of resentment, When treated like dirt, chose to be Focusing more on what she meant. You suddenly look for her again. You can't find her anywhere at all. Thinking about your kid in pain, You wish you bought one after all!
Rgs, I always feel, that the world only applauds/ thinks to learn from people who are in the topmost steps of success ladder that is quite evident through their achievements. I am not saying it is wrong. There are many a rags to riches story out there. But the real leadership qualities , focus, confidence, orientation and hard work and much more success lessons can very well be learnt from people striving hard, honestly, for their one square meal, just like this traffic signal seller. Your poem has captured the scene and emotions well.
You are right Pavithra. We can learn a lot from them. Perhaps what stands at the top is that "Never give up, whatever the odds!" mindset. I understand that its their living to make yet, such a persistence is amazing. Thanks for your feedback. Besides, there is another fine thing here - about the protagonist himself, with a suffering kid. Is it perhaps due to the point that one who suffers understands others' plight? -rgs
Ordinary minds, like most of us, need something related in their lives to understand the plight of others. But for those who see Him/Her/It/ Themselves in the other person , they do not need some personal experience to understand the pain. This is what differentiates mere mortals from those spiritually advanced Souls full of empathy towards other lives, need not necessarily be human. The main objective in life is to become one such person/thing.
Obviously I am not one of those, Pavithra. And all I can do at this moment is to hope that I will be there one day. Thanks. -rgs
Dear RGS @rgsrinivasan , A beautiful poem and thought! Yes, RGS, we can learn lessons from any and many - as long as we keep our senses and self open to receive and learn! Thanks for the lovely poem - I am tempted to name it "Ode to the Signal Book Seller"!!
Thanks for your appreciation and feedback @suryakala madam. I agree to what you said about learning from any. And your title fits this even better. -rgs
