Helpless

I saw them pulling carts
With painful intakes of air;
The bony hands were shaking,
Eyes were deep in its sockets,
Poverty accompanied them
Everywhere;
I felt helpless

I saw them:
Moving with the people,
Squatting on the pavement,
Waiting for the coins to be dropped
In their out-stretched palms-
Fate never left them alone;
I felt helpless.

I saw them:
The blinds, the legless –
Some with sticks, some on knees,
Moving along the streets;
Calamity persistently followed
Wherever they went;
I felt helpless.

They lived on:
Facing the hardships,
Suffering the trauma;
When I saw an uncanny twinkling
In their eyes,
I felt helpless-not for them-
But for me.

I just could not fathom:
Why they clung to their life
So fiercely, which is so fragile?
Is it ‘rays of hope’ or
Is it just ‘id’?
Oh! If only I could have found out?
I really could have found out?
I really felt helpless…

First Published in Times of India on 4th July, 1990