Need Poem by Vera Sidhwa

With large eyes and holding a pan,
He begged for food and drink.
The rest of us didn't understand,
His predicament or need.

I looked down at him,
He sitting in a cloud of dust.
I offered him a story,
But he needed food, he must.

He looked at another boy,
His eyes to death did span.
He walked back and forth with a pan.
Yet no one really did understand.

The reality was grim.
There were too many of them.
The beggar boys in dust.
They had to eat. They must.