A child, shook my world…

I had passed thru this street, that day,
And had met a child, happy and gay.
He played here, with beaming smiles,
That connected us, across miles.

Later one day…, I came to learn,
That this child, had come to ‘earn’;
A terminal illness that would turn,
Soon…, His life into ashes, in an urn.

Awaited here, a family for a miracle,
I prayed with them, for all that’s possible,
For long…, with a will for any fate,
They had barged thru all gates.

But alas! Life doesn’t offer choices,
And rarely heard, are such voices.

Children, we see, not so often,
Brooking pain, that would soften;
A world full of, sighs and sorrow,
With moaning thoughts for morrow.

But I treasure, the days of delight,
When I played, with this child of light,
He shone in the sky like a sun,
And fostered hopes, where there were none.

This day, as I passed thru their house,
I saw a man stand by his spouse;
There was stillness in the air,
And, today…, I hesitate to share.

A smile on this child’s face,
Snatched forever, in a slow pace;
As my friend was lead to the grave,
There was hardly a way I could be brave…

This child, innocent and tender,
Has shaken my world with a thunder.

© Vinay Nagaraju
May 26, 2002.