A reason to live

Not a thing was going well,

Gradually, my life was becoming a hell.

Gloom, sadness,pain and misery followed me everywhere,

I could find happiness,joy,hope and cheer nowhere;

Failures at every step had become the order of the day,

A 'Dark night' in my life was here to stay.

Fumed and frustrated, I went out on a walk,

My brain tense, my heart depressed, I found it difficult to talk;

I didn't know where I was going,

Agony and sorrow in my life growing;

Wandering aimlessly, I reached a place I had never been before,

Soon I realized, I was in a slum, developed a few weeks ago;

Dirt, filth, garbage:I could see a real mess around,

I could hardly find a piece of 'Green Ground'.

Unmoved, unfeeling, I moved on,

A serious battle in my mind brewing on;

Suddenly, my attention diverted to a child,

He looked innocent with an expression on his face so mild;

But his face gave me a sinking feeling,

As always, I started analyzing.

The reasons I found left my heart bleeding.

In winters, I would curl myself up in my cozy bed,

But he didn't have a roof to cover his head;

Every now and then, I would buy new clothes and the older ones kept piling on,

And he didn't have a piece of wool to put on;

Without any effort,I got three meals of the day,

But for a piece of bread, he had to toil hard night and day.

Coming back to life, I rushed my hands in my pocket,

All I could find was just a piece of chocolate;

With numb hands, I offered it to him,

He looked at me amazed and finally gave a grin.

But what I saw next was even more shocking,

He didn't walk to me, but started crawling;

I realized how cruel life had been to him,

My feet froze,I couldn't walk up to him;

With shaky hands, he took the 'Gift' with glee,

As if I was the Santa and he was the greatest fan of me.

His eyes were filled with joy,

Mine with remorse,I was about to cry;

I prayed to God, I had had enough of that sight,

I could no longer bear that boy's plight;

How disgraceful I had been to my life!

A lesson was learnt and my content began to thrive.

I started respecting life from then on,

For in that boy, I just found a reason to live on!