Spark Poem by Latha Prem Sakhya

Was there no positive spark,
A speck, a flicker
To keep you going my child?
Didn’t the ever green classics, you read
And the great souls you communicated with
Provide a spark
To keep you going my child?

Uncared-for, unloved, a vagabond-
Exposed to the sinister side of life;
What led you to the freakish cruelty?
An abused being, never enjoying
The warmth of affection, what else
Could his child brain teach him?
A hermit –you crawled into yourself;
Dwelling in the dark subconscious.
Your arrival in the juvenile home
Was a blessing, but short lived.

Yet you left a glow behind
For millions of little ones like you
Exposed to the seamier side
Of this wide world -
No loving hands to guide them,
To stroke them and pat them with understanding;
No loving lips to appreciate them, to encourage them;
No one to help them discern the black and the white-
So cursed to live in shades of grey-
Confused, bewildered.
All that a child needs for blossoming,
Denied and nipped off from the bud!

But— you, my child, had a chance of coming back-
A saviour -brought you back to normal life
Building up your inner strength,
Identifying your taste for reading,
Opening a new world of books.
Swimming up the dark stream of Sub-conscious
You reached a new shore-
You waded through the world of letters
A fish, enjoying the freshness of new water.
Thriving in the new knowledge
Of the Koran and the Bhagavad Gita,
Basheer and MT were your favourites,
APJ’S books you perused avidly,
Kadamanitta’s poetry rejuvenated you,
“Kozhi” your favourite, you recited
With a flourish to your enthralled listeners;
A talented singer, a wizard with colours-
Yes- you came back to life!
Within a short span thousand and more books
You perused. But all brought to naught.43

The dark shadows of two-faced life stalked you.
No soul could stop you child
From destroying yourself.
No spirit was there to extend a loving hand,
To pull you out of that slushy mire
That swallowed you up.
Yet you will remain a spark,
A guiding spirit,
To children like you—
A shining light to lead them,
Through the world of letters
To a better world.

(In memory of 17years old Shakeer who is no more to receive the Best Reader Prize for reading 1,166 Books from 20-6-’06 to 2 -5-’08.Based on the news paper Story By C.Santhosh I read. (in The Hindu)