Wish Fulfilment Poem by Prabhakar Subramaniam

The little girl moves

Into a rented house

With her parents

And little brother

She bangs the door shut

Shuts the windows tight

Runs up and down the room...

Glad passersby cannot see her

Bathe or comb or make up

Change clothes or eat or study...

She watches the walls with affection

For keeping the world out

When she doesn't want it...

The train horn jolts her awake

She finds herself still on the pavement

Her family sprawled nearby

But for her mother

Yet to turn in for the night

Though the 3 a.m. express has arrived

And passengers stream out from the station

To her right...

She wishes dreams can be called at will

So she can still be in that one-room tenement

Painted dark green

With some space

In front where

She can draw the dotted kolam

She has just learnt,

With her own corner

For her clothes, school books

Film star poster,

With a window

She can watch the stars from

And shut it

When the sky palls...

She closes her eyes

Shuts the stars out.