Hut Poem by Hans Raj Sharma

O’ the world!
Hell like
I know not
Do yee see me?
I’m nine
Months old
And this hut
On the hill side
My inheritance
Its walls and roof
All made of grass
And bamboo sticks.

Do yee see outside?
That wooden seat
And stone sheet
Where mother
Used to wash
Dirty utensils
Pots and clothes
Of my family
In the open.

Do yee see?
These clothes
Still hanging
On the string
And drying out
For the last
Several days
Belong to my
Mother!

Do yee know?
I did have father
Two brothers
And eldest sister
Once I belonged
To a family
And family to me
Now all’re gone
With-
Splashing water
Of recent floods
Leaving behind
For me alone
Painful memories
Agonizing me

Do yee see?
Those patches of
Rags on the roof
Of my serene hut
That my father
Applied to stop
Rain leakage
But, no more
He’s alive.

Have yee seen?
My elder sister
Any where
Who undertook
My safekeeping
And look me after
My mother’s gone
Now putting me
In safe hands
In this hut
Where’s she gone?
Here no one
To be seen
Except me alone!

Do yee see?
This water outside
Around the hut
The horror
I fear outside
Hiding inside it
Ever since
Waiting for
Someone’s help
Or their return
Though-
Meaningless
For me
Hunger and thirst
What I need
They get back
You understand
What I mean.

Do yee know?
I’m making
Soul to soul
Contact to
Make them feel
If established
Automatically
The hearts
Woul’d melt
With a feel of
Human milk
And silence
Woul’d plays
Music-
Of its own
Don’t say dead
Massively alive.

Don’t yee see?
Nothing is worth
For me
More than today
As I fail
To re-live in
Yesterday
And tomorrow’s
Beyond my reach.

Do yee think?
I to be a reflection
Unswervingly
I need have love
And honest care
As an infant
I promise
And undertake
To return-
Today
That I receive.

Do yee know?
I warned them all
They shouldn’t go
So far away
Beyond-
Where I realize
The need
Lest-
I should learn
To live alone

Do yee judge?
May it be?
Too late for them
To return
No matter
What yee see
Or what
I look like
Fortune
It destined
Me to go round
A great person
Of this world?

Do yee discern?
For this world
I’m an infant
Of no use
But-
For my family
I’m whole
This world
That makes me
Take care of me.

-Copy right hrsharma
Ludhiana, Punjab, India