I Am A Worn Out Rubber Slipper

I was destined to adorn the feet of a migrant labour,

Many such slippers in the community of these poor people are my neighbours,

Our life is a tough one as these people hardly sleep,

They naturally wake up early in the morning without hearing the alarm's beep,

He uses me everywhere from the toilet, for walking and at his workplace,

I am a witness of all the hardships that he has to face,

His life was already an epitome of misfortunes,

And then came the pandemic and his already struggling life got completely ruined,

He is a daily wager living hand to mouth,

The whole world got in lockdown and his life further went south,

His family now faces the height of poverty,

Now they were falling short to buy the basic commodities,

No help or support from the government,

Silently waiting for the lockdown to end,

Unfortunately, whatever little money he had got already spent,

Corona wasn't something that he was worried about,

But of hunger, his family would surely die, he had no doubt,

Lockdown got extended and so was his misery,

The promise of government's support and it's execution were both contradictory,

To return to his native village was the only option at his side,

But to reach there, there were no trains to board, no buses to ride,

So he makes up his mind to walk a thousand miles,

And convinces his poor family, donning on his face a fake smile,

With great joy and hopes, our journey began,

A first few miles in excitement we literally ran,

Their energy got dried under the scorching sun,

Few miles of walk took a toll on their legs of a thousand miles journey which had just begun,

The unbearable heat of the sun wasn't their only enemy,

Limited food and water was also their concern, let us not talk about shortage of money,

They decide to take rest in the day and travel at night,

Life was cruel to them they knew, but they kept up the fight,

The shoes in his kid's feet torn out and gave up as the journey was too long,

And one of the kids bare foot was pricked by a thorn,

Bleeding feet and tears in their eyes,

They continued their journey, all through the way there were hidden cries,

Being made of rubber I was getting worn out near the heels,

His heels were bleeding walking many miles, his pain I could clearly feel,

As I was diminishing near his heel,

So was his hope of reaching his destination is what I can reveal,

His journey was full of struggle, pain and sorrow,

He lost all hopes after reaching half way as he didn't wanted to face another painful tomorrow,

Like that migrant workers hope, atlast I broke,

With tears in his eyes he looked at me but not a word he spoke,

He left me on the road and continued barefoot,

There were still five hundred miles left on his route,

While lying here on the road I pray he reaches his home and may he gets God's favour,

This is my story of a worn out rubber slippers of a migrant labour.