A LOST WANDERER

Few days back while waiting on the the bus stop i came across a lady with mental illness. Her vulverability made me conserned for all the people suffering from mental illness in our country.This poem is dedicated to all the people fighting their illness and to all the people working towards eradicating mental illness.



A Lost Wanderer

Lost in her own world,
Famished by the neck,
Shabby in her dress,
Unaffected she goes….

Murmuring to herself,
Sometimes laughing, sometimes crying,
Indifferent to eyes around,
Unaffected she goes…

Children throwing pebbles,
People calling her names,
Street hooligans behaving nasty,
Unaffected she goes…

She has no hope,
Nobody to call her own,
Undaunted by others behavior,
Unaffected she goes…

If she would have a mind of an ordinary,
A though would undoubtedly run through her,
“If I had AIDS, cancer or TB, I would be put to heal,
People would show fake concern, lacking compassion.
In a country where even beggars are fed why am I starving?
Where is my dignity? Where is my respect?
I am ill. So what if it’s a mental illness…”

Surely then she would be troubled,
By people’s perception and mindset,
But today she is atypical, strange and unaffected,
Away from the pretentious world that once made her vulnerable.