The Angel Child Poem by abu tarek md tahsin

with a trembling smile
the gods adorn
a fallen angel by the road

selling cheap books
by the gaping hole
the hole in our conscience
which is there no more.

her body aches
her smile stiffens
her posture outstretches
of a child of only eight.


she roams the streets
so long and wide
for a meager plate of rice.

the books she sells
by the traffic lights
bring tears to her dark brown eyes.

while the toxic fumes
and the honking pride
of people and cars pass by.

she walks half naked
with empty feet,
selling education
to the educated.


and to no avail
you would see
a child so carefree.

she smiles
she cries
upon the streets
she lives.

she sells
and she steals
a thousand wonderful dreams.

and when night falls again
she disappears to her slum once again,
where she sleeps
and she sews
her torn clothes
as the angels above
feel amused.

Until one cries:

'a child so dear
a child so bright
should not be selling books by the roadside.'

and the gods above
make a decision
that an angel has wrongly fallen through the heaven's door.


they clamor
and they fight
how to give the angel child
her right to live her life.