TRAFFIC LIGHTS

TRAFFIC LIGHTS

I drive down the beautiful street

Strapped safely to my seat

Spot the traffic policeman on his beat

At the crossing the lights turn red

I apply t he breaks slowly to avoid

A major jerk to my head

I look away nonchalantly in the opposite direction

As a young beggar woman taps my window

Hoping that she would go away and ease my tension

Soon a baby strapped on to a ten year old lass

Peers into my world of mobiles and purses

Her mud caked face plastered on the glass

A small pair of hands stretch across

My windshield rubbing with a soiled cloth

I wave the kid away my face looking cross

Another child oblivious of his tattered gladrags

Pushes a bunch of flowers into my face

As I turn away he runs off as if in a race

A weather beaten face lined with deep furrows and pain

Comes limping forward with coins clanging in a bowl

His withered hands reach upto his mouth again and again

I could hold on no more - rolled down my window

Hastily threw a coin into his bowl

Was I doing something for my soul?

Those ninety seconds were like a lifetime for me

Now I wish t here were no traffic lights

For that’s where in broad daylight darkness stares at me!

~Vinita Sinha Ganesh~