Man Of Salt Poem by Anil Kumar Panda

They say we ate in bowls
Make of clay from our yard
They say we ate only rice and salt
Because no one gave us food

They say we would have died
One by one if mother would not
Have begged before the temple
Time was running short and cruel

They say we were all lazy people
Taken birth from a lazy womb
Where from blood flowed slowly
Some of us drank the blood
And survived rather miraculously

They say we will die before our deaths
Before our father falls into a ditch
When he will come from work in
The dark drunk and scared of darkness

They say the truth and I believe them