Liberty Equality Fraternity

Hopeless and ugly he looks
As he lays
-----------Brick
----------------On
-------------------Brick
-----------Stone
----------------On
-------------------Stone
To build the dreams of the lords.


Poems, written by many a poet
Inspired by ideologies of
--------------------------Liberty
---------------------------------Equality
-----------------------------------------Fraternity,
I read in the idle hours in my
office on the 13th floor
of a luxurious
tower.

The tower, though built
in affluence of extravaganzas
of the lords: marble floors, rooftop swimming pool,
priceless paintings etc.
overlooks:

A dirty slum
surviving in the harshest of conditions
with stinking water, little sanitation ,
congested space where slaves
swarm like ants thriving on the bestow of the lords

A street
littered with starving beggars
with their ugly rib cages jutting out
of their emaciated bodies
as they beg at the closed doors of the lords

A pavement
thronged by naked orphans with
perhaps no homes or names
who spend the day
rummaging the municipality dustbin
for the thrown away food of the lords.

The tower,
repainted every year and
decorated on gatherings,
has laborers from the nearby slum
working round the year.

Everyday
As I enter my office
I see laborers preparing for work;
but we hardly interact except when
in one particular occasion a labourer
whose name I do not know and who
whistles at work the tune of folk songs ,
in an abrupt act of stupidity , asked me the time
While I was heading for a meeting.

I took a glance at him in awe, told him
the time and was gone!

Life continued in its familiar cycle

----------------Home
---Office-----------------Office
----------------Home

And in the idle hours I read one of the
numerous poems:
Hopeless and ugly he looks
As he lays
-----------Brick
----------------On
-------------------Brick
-----------Stone
----------------On
-------------------Stone
To build the dreams of the lords.

Then one day as I was reading
I heard a sudden commotion,
momentarily the people
Went mad and
ran in dismay.

I feared of a fire breaking out
But the guard assured me that matters were not
so serious and only a labourer whose name he did not
know and who was engaged in repainting the tower
had slipped off the ladder from the 13th floor.

That evening I gathered from the papers that
The labourer whose name I did not know and who had
Slipped off the ladder from the 13th floor
was the same labourer who whistled at work
and who had so defiantly asked
me the time.

I felt sorry for a moment and then
the usual pace of life took over leaving
the matter forgotten amidst
the cycle of
----------------Home
---Office-----------------Office
----------------Home


and in the idle hours I read poetries:

Hopeless and ugly he looks
As he lays
-----------Brick
----------------On
-------------------Brick
-----------Stone
----------------On
-------------------Stone
To build the dreams of the lords.