Best Poems Written by Susantha Herath

Death of a Child

A child was walking along the road,
the road from  his home to the  school.
He was walking to the school
early in the morning,
he has to walk six miles , to learn maths
and science and arts
and English and geometry and,
and the life, a life he never had,
in down pouring rains,
or under the burning sun .
He has to walk six miles
and he was twelve years old,
twelve years only.
He has to walk 
in a road through a jungle with huge trees ,
with wild beasts and snakes ,
tigers and vipers and elephants ,
elephants who had lost their natural habitat
for the development,
The development of whom the boy did not know,
Not the father of the child,
nor the  mother of  the child.
And the animals  were hungry and angry and wild,
the boy was also hungry,
he had no breakfast,
as nothing to eat in his home
And he had piece of bread last night,
with a piece of onion.
He was walking and dreaming ,
dreaming about not a luxurious life,
but about if he would have lunch today.
Then , they   met ,
the raging wild elephant,
and the hungry child, 
a child who was dreaming about 
a lunch he had never before
nor he will ever.
Then the  time stopped for a moment,
The earth stop rotating,
Then everything back to normal
Except the grieving life 
of a poor hungry child.

Copyright © Susantha Herath | Year Posted 2021