A Requiem For A Girl Gone

She bubbled, enthusiasm unbound,
Jumping with joy, from one foot to the other,
She was going home, after many months,
She was going to see her mother.

All of twelve, she was full of life,
Excited, happy, a huge smile there
On her bright face, shining eyes,
Her dress neat, well oiled hair.

Home was a distance away, another state,
And she was one, in a group of more than ten,
And they set out, on the road,
Some women, some children, some men.

On their heads, and in their arms
They carried whatever they could
And they walked, and they walked
And they laughed, they felt good.

The road was long, and hot, dusty too
The sun overhead burnt hard and bright
And they walked, and they walked
And she walked too, until night.

Stopping now, stopping then,
Their feet, ceaselessly, moving all the time,
They ate up the miles of dusty road
The men, women, all in their prime.

Landless labourers, in search of a job
They were all healthy in a way
For who would employ them otherwise
But now, with no work, no pay
They were going back, back home
Until this thing that people spoke of
Would blow over, this virus
That ate you up with just a cough...

They walked, she walked, day after day
Enthusiasm still high, laughter ready
And she played and sang songs
And hopped and skipped, still steady

And still days passed, five, then a week
And they ate up the road, ate up those miles
A little slower now, as they ate up their food
Sleeping at night in those narrow defiles..

How long can enthusiasm continue to live
While hunger eats you up from your inside
You and I may perhaps never know
But she, mere twelve, faltered in her stride

As they crossed that border from state
To native state, home now a day's walk away
She fell, and rose, and fell again
Stumbling now, swooning from hunger
And thirst and sheer numbing pain.

The others with her, her village folk
Tried what little they could but without hope
A woman, her mother's friend they say
Took her tired head on her slope
Of a lap, made her rest a while
And pressed her tired, tiny feet
Little able to prevent this angelic child
From leaving us all, her God to meet.