सहमे

Shame



Cruelty rules the unforgiving streets

The stench of abuse pervades the baking heat

Women and children rifle garbage and filth of weeks gone by

watching their menfolk drink another bottle dry



Hopeless migrants hang from trees and hang from ceiling fans

Another woman dies on fire her sari caught in a hot oil pan

Meanwhile pavements disappear beneath a sea of skin and bone

of dalits, untouchables, don't go there, they dont have a slum to call their own



Remind me Lord why they are them, why I am me, and how it came

to pass through eyes so blessed by You, my vision brings me only shame