MUMBAI SIEGE

An old lady underneath a tree
smiled as she beckoned me.
the air had been dry through the night
the ground already heated by the by morning light.

”help me lass” the words she ground
"A sip of water will do me good.
I’ve walked the night without a slipper
A little water for the wee pain in my ticker."

I looked at her tired eyes and wrinkles
her feet calloused with a thousand brambles
“I am so much luckier than the rest.
They've all been shot while I am left with a pain in my chest."

the hotels and street they have captured to hold.
mankind as hostage and my entire household.
we tried to remain calm and not show a flicker
but the night exploded and this wee pain in my ticker."

I screamed for help but the only things I found
Was blood on the earth and bodies on the ground.
I wanted to fight and tried my best,
But had to sit down with this small pain in my chest."

"Thank you lass’ were her words to me
she smiled as she leaned back against the tree
"at my age it is not easy to digest
that I could be defeated by a small pain in my chest."

"my children know their mom so strong and grown,
would they believe I was too weak to stand alone?
will my mother have imagined, as she held me to her breast,
That I’d lose a fight because of this pain in my chest?"

is the day ending already she said wincing at the sun.
the day is fading when I had thought it had just begun.
”I have to move on now and warn the rest ”
saying she died from that small pain in her breast.

the rest is a blur, I think I wept
and put my arms around her as she slept
holding her close our wounds were merged
The huge one in my heart against the wee one in her chest.