Poor India’s Poor Picture Poem by Bijay Kant Dubey

A hamlet under the trees,
The peepul and banyan trees,
Without the post-office
And the shops,
Sleeping by nightfall,
Getting darker and solitary,
Without the lights,
Just the wicked earthen lamp burning
With the oil burning somewhere
With insufficient light
And that too not everywhere.

The village boys and girls half-fed and half-clothed
Telling of a poor India,
Clumsy and poorly dressed,
The hair of the girl without oil and lousy
And the boy if with the shorts
But shirtless
And if with the shirt
But buttonless,
Taking stale food and that too
If possible,
Maybe it rice gruel with a little bit
Of boiled rice,
Taking midday meal very late
During the daytime.