Check if you are blind

P. K. Joy

You claim that you have beautiful eyes

Eyes that display charming smiles

Eyes that read fine prints many reams

Eyes setting opposite sex in dreams

Eyes of which all poets will praise

Eyes for which all gods will craze.

Despite these you seem to be blind

For you don’t see life of fellowmen around.

While seeing rich society’s maddening glitters

Are you seeing the plight of people in gutters?

Are you able to see the hungry, sick and unclad

Living in misery in those shacks in your backyard

And the roofless thousands living on footpath,

Deprived of food, water and bare supply of cloth,

With no access to many a basic human need,

Whose bodies are grounds for louse and germs to breed?

Are you able to see children picking food crumbs from garbage,

And elders picking rags and junk for a living in their old age,

The unlettered, uninformed lots in the village

Who, for feeding you, day and night doing hard tillage,

Isolated, weak and those in many ways deprived,

The uncared for, old and those physically disabled,

And the unenlightened poor living always under fear

For, to stand up and get their rights they don’t dare?

Are you able to see the meek whose backs the musclemen use

To ride on, carry load, revel and amuse,

The helpless weak watching their daughters being abused

With no support to raise hand, resist and defend,

And the like fellow beings who are suffering without revolt

In your own neighborhood, for none of their fault?

Are you able to see the tears rolling down from their eyes

And perceive their pain with your own inner eyes?

If not, my dear great friend, you are indeed blind.

Check at once and ensure that your vision is made splendid.

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