One Winter Morning by the Village Road

On a winter morning,
The village road  lay quiet.
Rickshaw puller Tolmu was then fast sleep
On the grass by the roadside
Behind his rickshaw
Drunk from the country liquor vendor.

Some goats grazed nearby. 
Cattle grazed on the stubble  
In the paddy fields by the roadside,
While others stood lazily,
Enduring the cold.

At about nine,
When the sun shone, dispelling the cold,
People began to take to the roads;
Groups of students  were walking to school.
Tolmu was still asleep,
Enjoying the warm sunlight.
Yet not one wondered, what had happened to him,
For they often saw such a sight there.
But his neighbor Fatima laughed quietly 
As she passed by in the auto rickshaw,
Seeing him .

After some time, he waked up
And soon remembered :
He was to deliver four bushels of paddy
From the tenant farmer to the landlord
Before the latter went to the office.
But the time was late .
Copyright © | Year Posted 2019

Poem

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Devi Avatar
October 7, 2024 at 7:52 AM
The poem based on a true event some years ago Now a days no of rickshaws reduced .Bot those days most of the rickshawwalas drink begining from the early morning
Kiser Avatar
June 29, 2019 at 2:22 AM
He'd have frozen to death without that liquor in him. Good read.
Callus Avatar
March 9, 2019 at 3:20 PM
Pleasantly descriptive...together with a projection of tranquil peace, Akham. // paul
Pandit Avatar
March 8, 2019 at 3:42 PM
I can picture the scene you painted in your poem..you right..not so unusual for a passer by.
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