Siliguri, India
She is the one you see
Staring back at you,
A crowd mills around, all
Faces engrossed in their own being.
She is a part of them,
There, but just on the fringes ---
The one everyone accepts but
Still, happily, cannot yet absorb;
Not quite one of them,
Yet filling the photo frame;
She is detached, and lonely inside,
Secret longings and hidden passions
Make her body of torment.
She wants to express it all but
Finds a mute and silent outlet,
Her lips.
And the crowd washes away,
Like the rustlings of leaves, dead
On the class room floor,
And she still sits there.
Smiling back at you.
