The Sunset that Killed the Dawn

“His voice still rings in my ears
Though he had already stopped
Sniveling for food
He could no longer do so

His father had left us long ago
To his new woman to whom
He gave two children and fled again

The five hundred rupees - cash in hand
I got for sweeping the school
Could not even buy us both
Enough rice and dhal

It’s then that the voices started going
And mingled with the groaning in my empty
Limp belly and started to scream
At first they were loud and then they were low but persistent

“Isn’t death better than this agony?”
The voices kept on drilling into my head until the only
Thought on my mind was death

The hunger had done its trick and we had
Fainted. I realized that only after I came to in the dusk
A lurid sunset it was, and it hurt my weak eyes
I crawled towards him and, surprisingly,
I didn't feel hungry

His limp hands looked as if they had no life
They were unnaturally small like a smaller child’s
His head lolled to one side and his mouth half-open
In a desperate attempt to fill his swollen tummy with air

“Putha, putha” I called and the poor thing woke up
It still had enough defiance to be alive!
I carried him to the well and he looked confused
I sensed he lift his tiny head to look at me
I didn't look at him for fear of losing my determination

I swallowed the tears as I lifted his light body with my shivering hands
And dropped it into the well without thinking anything
If I started thinking I wouldn’t have been able to do it”

“Why did you do it?” the crime OIC demanded
“To stop his voice and the other voices
He was always hungry and I had nothing
To feed him” she managed to say