A Good Citizen Or A Coward Poem by Sankaranarayanan Madavu

A little girl,
crying in a cradle, a rag tied behind her mother,
and the mother,
in rags, her countenance miserable,
spreading her arms before me for alms.
With the sign board above, ' Give No Arms, Encourage No Begging',
I hesitate, like the hero of the classic tragedy,
to give or not to give alms.............
The mother waits in patience,
her tear-filled eyes pleading,
her lips trembling.
But, I hesitate,
I know not, what to do.
I am in a dilemma.
If I pay, the rules are violated,
my good -citizenship sullied.
I f not,
my presumed humane virtue is lost,
and,
the entreating eyes will forever hunt me, causing nightmares.
What to do, I cannot decide,
Am I a Coward?