Can still hold the strains

Of rich golden champagne

…And lips dry and cracked

Painted only in a dull grey

Arch in such a mesmerizing way

…A f ace so young as yet

Can relate so clearly its state

Of being resigned to fate

Husna… you were but

Half a score, not much more

…With your trinkets

Held out to all who pass

Almost disinterested, living a farce

And when he whispered to me

“Please do give her something”

You quietly drew near… expecting

Through the half open window

You waited for that crumpled note

Almost saying, you deserved… more

But, neither you nor we knew

That when we asked for your picture

And I softly whispered-

You would react like any lass

And gift us, a beauty… unsurpassed

 ~Horizon~

17^th Jan 2005

(Husna, a trinket vendor on the footsteps of Fatehpur Sikri)

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