A Rainy Day In Town

It was a rainy day in town

One that you get every year

The street with their ubiquitous potholes

Were, as always, filled with water



I saw a frog jump into one of these pools

To bathe in the fresh raindrops

While a lamp pole bent down

Ostensibly, to wash its face off grime



Then came along a boat

One that had no passengers in it

Braving the flowing flood waters

It sailed down one of those gutters



I forgot to mention…it was made of paper

And was fuelled by a little girl’s ambition

Maybe she wanted to become a sailor like Marco Polo

Or maybe a pirate like Jack Sparrow



When the vessel’s maiden voyage was done

Its captain took it out of the sea for repairs

And went onto prepare it for another one

Down another gutter, or as she imagined, another sea…



The girl grew neither tired nor weary

She went looking for newer vistas

And thus, these journeys kept continuing

For there were plenty of seas waiting to be explored



Her determination brought Sinbad to my mind

That indomitable sailor who never said no to a new voyage

My Lady Sinbad, undaunted, went onto sail with her ship

Looking for new treasures in each trip



This young sailor and her numerous voyages

Went unnoticed by the passersby

Drowning in their own oceans of woe

And trying to hold onto hopes of broken wood…



But I, I was struck by the angelic beauty

And devilish perseverance of the girl

So I stood by to watch the events unfold

On the stage set on the gutters of the old road…



Gutter after gutter she moved

And arrived upon a new sea

This one, curiously had across its length

A fallen tower of steel…



The ship after repairs was ready

And so was the girl with her limitless energy

She wanted to know if her ship would sail under

This new obstacle set by the steel tower



She bent down and placed her boat on the water

I saw her shake with joy for a moment

Or was it pain? I was not very sure

But the next moment she landed crashing on the road



I didn’t know what had happened

A minute later, the horror of it struck me

She had touched the water

And had got a rude electric shock from the lamp pole



Had the girl been rich enough to afford a science class

Had I been quick enough to realize the lurking danger

Then one of us could have stopped

The horror before it happened



I wanted to do something, something

That would take the pain of guilt away

And make me feel like a Good Samaritan

But the life had gone, with no known way to bring it back



A sense of helplessness overwhelmed me

I felt a strange urge to move from there

Probably inspired by the hordes of unconcerned souls around

Who were unmoved by the sight of suffering, pain or even death



I brought myself back to face the stark reality

That stares in the face of every man’s conscience

I started walking away from the scene

Probably hoping that the stain of guilt would go away



Hoping so, I joined the rest of humanity

In its persistent race towards selfishness

But something caught my eye and I turned

To find the paper boat sailing smoothly under the electric pole….