Grimy beard, face beaded with sweat,
one man short,
sinking slowly,
places
platforms
unreached destinations
untamed dreams.

Slender waist, freckled face,
one woman broken
singing of God,
rosary beads
in one hand,
the other searching
for her water thermos,
displaced.
The thirst is killing her
yet she cannot stop.

A child, well-built
descending into the ring
of people,
mother carries tiffin bags,
father suitcases,
he runs ahead
onto the track
holds landscapes in
the skip of his step
and falls.

Families, hesitant, squirm when
they see man and woman
asleep on the dust covered floor; 
haven’t eaten since four days,
this does not figure
in their glass homes
and platinum wristbands.

It is a circus
plastered smiles, faltering moves,
hungry lion, well-trained horse
and wounded trainer.