A Photo on the Wall

Those three young men

On one motorcycle, helmetless,

They rave past on the road

Catcalling the young girl

Walking beside the road

They’re having the carefree fun

Of their privileged life!

They twist and turn

Wriggle thro’ crowded street

Zoom past the intersections

They know how to cheat

The traffic policemen

These smart sons of wealthy fathers

Abiding by rules is foreign to them!

Do they attend some college?

Do they study business or medicine?

Or some engineering course?

Who needs? Who cares?

Why do you need these exercises?

For money, isn’t it? They have it enough

So, why bother needlessly!

Ten years have flown since then

And how the scene has changed!

One of the young men, an obesity,

Sits on the “Gaddi” (cushioned seat)

Of his father’s business!

They say one of his legs is wood 

 A gift by a highway mishap!

The second got in conflict

With the law of the land

And had to be a guest in a penitentiary

For a crime he committed

Against a young woman

Heaped shame on his parents

Lives in another town to hide his face.

The third was not so fortunate

He has turned into a photo on the wall

Garlanded and incensed

Adored with mourning tears 

of his surviving mother

The precious joy of her womb

Has turned himself into sorrow!

Xavier Bage

Mon,  Nov 20, 2017