Vagabond

“Wandering through empty and crowded streets with no destination in sight and sleeping under the sky with the fire burning inside was my life, the life of a vagabond. Survival is a funny game and life is an endless odyssey for survival” ~ By Poet Homeless, a wanderer all his life. An orphan, he was raised in the streets. Mongrel dogs and gypsies were his company. He had wild days and dolorous times. At nights, he curled up on street corners, Had brawls with other street children. But as he grew up, he began nursing a dream, To own a home and no more be a vagabond. He took up odd jobs and worked day in and out. Over time, against heavy odds A little hovel, he did build, In a verdant stretch of fertile land Off the noisy, frenzied crowd With sheaves of hay, he thatched its roof. With reed and bamboo, its walls were made. With mud and charcoal, its floor was glazed. With wooden planks, its entrance he laid. At dusk, when birds to their nests depart, And beasts, to their covert burrows and dens, After the day’s toil, weary and weak, He curls into the cozy comfort of his home. Through months and years, it gave him succor. Sheltered him from storm and rain. Made him differ from the gypsy tribe. Lent him a footing in this populous world. He wove around it many a dream. With frugal care, his needs he met. Like a squirrel stocking nuts and grains, In it's secret granary for the rainy days, He saved all that he had earned, For a life to be lived later in bliss. But alas! His haven lies so derelict! Its very foundation raced to the ground. The once beautiful stretch of land, Robbed of its greenery and grace! The eviction squad usurped his land, Hurling him down to the streets! Making him once again a vagabond… Bewildered, failing to budge an inch, Like a boat, midway stranded in sea, he stood. But his resilient spirits, to him affirmed, ‘Never defeated, though destroyed' Soon the mud hovel, to a palatial mansion turned. Where he envisioned himself as king of the land. His smiling progeny picking fruits from his orchard, And his cattle chewing cud in the shade of trees. Why scoff it as the fancy of a fevered mind? Oh! But to dream is every man's right.