The True Greatness

A day or two ago,
Did I see at my school gate:
A girl with a barren slate,
And a hope to change her fate.
...And I wondered:
“Am ‘I’ really great?”

With no words in sight to fill her slate,
She laid it down and returned to work.
For a flake of bronze she swept the street,
Against the flow of a beggars’ fleet.
...And I wondered:
“Am ‘I’ really great?”


After the street was clean and clear,
She got in her hands- few pennies dear.
She bought something that she ate,
And for a gift of knowledge
She resumed to wait.
...And I wondered:
“Am ‘I’ really great?”


As the day met its end,
And rushed children through the gate,
She held her eyes still, for a trace
Of God from above, in a human’s face.
But all she got were psalms of hate,
Yet was she still, and so was her faith.
...And I wondered:
“Am ‘I’ really great?”

I too, rushed by
The gate where she stood,
And reached for my pocket
To give her what I could.
Out came my wallet,
and then a chocolate bar,
That I hoped would fill her pocket,
and also her hungry scar.
But she chucked them right toward me,
With no eye for what they are.
And told me what she wanted-
was no bread to fill her plate,
but some words to fill her slate.
...And I wondered:
“Am ‘I’ really great?”

I took her to my home,
To my good old man.
And told him all about her,
And asked for what he can.
For her, he made a heaven, of her wishful world,
And gave me a sister, of this earnest girl.

If one can give some joy
To children of this kind,
And fill up their empty slates
With the words one educates,
The world will be a place so great
With the greatness they create.
So give something to this world
Before you sleep, and away you die.
Then greatness shan't be a dream.
Great shall be you, and so shall be I.

© Copyright 2014 Harshil Gupta (harshil.gupta at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.

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