The Laughing Lady
Speeding down the road
I am late for work
There is a serpentine line of stopped cars ahead
The loud blaring of horns
Break the rhythm of the music
My car speakers dispense into my ears
Everybody is swerving and swearing
Avoiding an obstacle that I still don’t see
I too avoid what looks like a heap of clothes
I reach abreast and see a sight that shakes the foundation of my soul
I see a lady frail and fragile
Dirty like the day she was born
Covered in clothes too big for her frame
Sitting on the road, oblivious to everything around her
So happy in her thoughts, laughing
Enjoying the fate that life bestowed on her
So happily insane, expressing sheer bliss
At peace with her noisy surroundings, filled with dust and grime
Singing a song of happiness
My heart went into a spiral of thoughts
She must have been someone’s daughter
Her mother would have cried tears of joy
Hearing her first cry, signaling her arrival
She must have been a girl someday
Full of dreams and aspirations for a future
Maybe she was once married
Might have had children
What would have caused her to get into this state
Of physical and mental degradation
All these thoughts flow through my mind as I cross her
Avoiding a pile of clothes and a small rag doll
Which she clutches to her bosom
As though it is a priceless treasure
And as I cross the laughing lady
So happily insane
The thought that came into my hideously human mind was
Oh! God I am late for work
Copyright © Manoj Kumar | Year Posted 2011
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