Compassion

I was travelling alone in a packed train,
Surprising how lonely crowds can make u feel,
Only yesterday I was surrounded by friends,
And today, left alone to hold on to the keel.

A shrill cry broke the chain of my thoughts,
An old lady in rags was begging for money,
She was an epitome of misery and gloom,
Yet some sneered, don'’t know what seemed funny.

I put a hand into my pocket and pulled out the change
A five rupee coin was all I could stumble on there,
A quick snack fought for it with a smile of gratification
The smile triumphed hands down without another care.

Slowly she crawled up to my feet, trembling with hope
I put the money in her hand; she held it up to her eyes,
She realized it was a fiver and not the usual fifty paisa
She was speechless; happiness carried her to the skies.

All the people turned around at once and looked at me
As she showered me with heartfelt blessings of gratitude,
For most of them it was not a generous deed of good,
All they found were colossal faults with my attitude.

I heard one of them speak, "look at these kids of today,
Squandering hard earned money without wee bit shame."
The one next snapped smiling, "Why do you bother,
If their parents can afford to be part of the game."

I was shocked to hear that conversation
Were they really that heartless or ...
Or was it that we are made to think so
Was it the society that was to account for?

We no longer feel compassion in our hearts,
People who do are contemptuously vouched,
Sympathy and Affection are now strangers to us,
Pennies earned are valued more that lives touched.

How is it that we lost this gift of ours?
Love had all along been our speciality.
And look to what we have degraded now
Fighting for trifles with all brutality.

We no longer notice how love can change lives,
We no longer feel its great power of healing,
The magical touch, the countless soft smiles,
The words of wonder, the surreal feeling.

Love means more than we could ever imagine,
Yet we refuse to love the feeling of love
We are more engrossed in what we can get
Than the gifts of love showered from above.

We were not like this in the past,
We must not be like this in future,
We will learn to love all over again,
In a world where we all are together.