The Suffering Land

Women workers were carrying tea leaves sacks to the upper floor of the tea factory. Among them, there was one who had a tender baby tied to her back. It was a shocking sight - a lean woman, a malnourished baby, a sack full of tea leaves and a high stair to climb.

The Woman on the Stair of the Tea Factory

What makes the lean woman climb up
The high stair of thirty steps
In the noisy tea factory!

With a malnourished baby
Bound to her back
And on her head rests
A heavy tea leaves sack
Oh God, what a misery!

O sister, why don’t you
Stay back at home
Or leave the baby
With its grand mom
When you climb the Calvary!

I can’t, because unfortunately
It doesn’t have any
Neither can I stay at home
Because I need some money
I’ve to reply the survival query.

If I don’t work one day
We’ll not have enough
To eat and feed the child
Our food will be half
No lintel and no curry!

I wish I could fill the lack
With a kind magic wand
For there are a million such
Women in this suffering land
I could make their Christmas merry!

 By Xavier Bage
15th Nov 2012
Published in Wikinut