THE GIRL IN THE MALL

THE GIRL IN THE MALL


Once in the mall I met a
Young girl whose cheeks were pale.
She had gloomy eyes but she
Did flash a paper smile.

This smile that adorned her lips
Was deep as her lipstick.
The next moment she returned
To her shadowy looks.

What ailed her others won’t know
Because she would not share
With anyone else the tears
She shed inside her heart.

I will tell you her secret.
Don’t ask me how I know.
Poets have ways of their own
To fathom the unknown.

She too was a bubbling girl
Till one night changed her life,
When she found in her bed the
One who should protect her.

That one night she ceased to be
A playful little girl.
The child in her died and she
Lived to dread all the men.

She has no one with whom she
May share her agony.
Her own won’t believe her and
Others could not care less.

Alas, this poet too can
Not dwell any further.
As you know, the poets, too,
Do have their own limits.


M C Gupta
25 December 2008