Glittering Gold Poem by Chandra sekharan

Narrow muddy road from village to nearby town
Reddish sun was about to touch
Vast, greenish paddy field on western hemisphere.
A young woman and her daughter
Were rushing to market for purchase
And return home
Before dusk drowns the earth in darkness
She was wearing a thick and heavy golden necklace
Around her fair, slim, long neck.
It was dangling left and right depending on her body movement
Suddenly a young cyclist came fast
In the opposite direction from market side
He stopped the bicycle by the side of the woman
Who was panic stricken
And abruptly snatched away necklace
Leaving reddish, bleeding scratches on her neck
Frustrated woman and her daughter started crying
The thief pedaled and rode fast
After some distance thief stopped pedaling
And turned back at the woman to study her reaction
He was astonished
Holding the hand of daughter
Woman was standing there and laughing
He shouted at her
“why the hell you are laughing? ”
Woman sarcastically replied
“You fool that is not real gold. It is fake”
Thief suddenly took a U turn and reached
Victims who were laughing non stop
He flung the snatched chain on her face and shouted
“You bloody cheat, why are you wearing
Such useless ornaments “
Disappointed he rode back towards market
Woman picked up the lost chain from ground
With a proud and smiling face and kept it in her hand bag
It was too late for her to go to market
She cancelled shopping and returned home
While walking, her curious daughter asked mom
“It is really true mummy, isn’t it real gold”
Mummy replied with the sad face
“Yes dear it is pure gold which your late father bought from Dubai
And he made this necklace
To give you at the time of wedding
This is the only asset your dad made by working
In hot deserts of Gulf for three years”
Woman had become a widow during her tender age
After giving birth to this only daughter
She continued to walk holding the hand of her daughter
And thinking about glittering gold and lost husband