Monday, October 4, 2021

BODIES

 Bodies on buses flagging arms and limp legs

in tired colours of creased green, blue or red

sloppily loaded every morning and evening

to destinations with no charm or shade.


I see them everywhere on weekdays and weekends

the colour of thankless jobs changing with car speed

cutting grass, building stadiums, laying roads

herds of them clustered sharing meals 

under biting heat and pricking chills


every dime earned in this foreign land

weighs heavier in their country

dreams of tiny faces somewhere 

wrinkled or bangled aspirations 

elsewhere tied to it.


no smile awaits to welcome each evening 

no soothing hands to wipe sweat

 or  tears of frustration.

home cooked warm food, a luxury once 

every two years 


their lives squished by  colossal loans 

and dubious agents 

fatigue and loneliness

their constant companions

toil is the only language their bodies utter


their colour of skin same as my brown

 other's privileged eyes pose before

 museums and beaches 

their glued eyes struggle to open

after  each day's drudgery.



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