Not Upper, Neither Lower Just In The Middle... Poem by Devapanchami Nair

A 12 year old kid overheard a murmur
too naive for her to grasp
But one word just struck the chord "money ".
The murmur Heated into arguments
But only one word familiar "money "
She went to bed confused bewildered that night
After few days she overheard it again
And went to bed confused again
But this time the word wasn't money it was "LOAN "
Which does not ring any bell for her age.
Years passed,
little by little she grew
Learned its real meaning
With all its pros and cons.
Unknowingly, life pushed her to that rat race of adult hood
at an early age of fifteen
Resilience and compassion became her strength
She became a girl
embodying sacrifice of her little school dreams and desires,
Family dramas on the other side
She coped through it all
Holding on to two pillars stood amongst her.
The loneliness
The emptiness
Of being single child with all responsibilities
Gradually seeped into her at that age.
The rat race she entered was a turmoil
The path went slow as turtle
Testing her patience in every possible ways
There was no loopholes
No escalators to ease the trek
She didn't chose it
It chose ‘HER"
the seasons changed..
But one thing remained
"loan"
Her thoughts spiraled around
Yet she chose to be determined over despair
Sometimes,
she wishes to be privileged
But she refrained
Thinking of stuck
The starving
The unseen
The struggle in the middle
It screams echoes inside
When adulthood occurs too soon
Or
The struggle ….
Is a cycle, inherited by generation.