Day of Independence

Step carefully
as you cut through
the crowd;
Not your neck
or your back,
neither your wallet
open to all;
Your mouth open,
covered in surprise,
The mask
in white
teasing the carriers of flu.

This dependence
on trees,
Cut yet for profit,
Flowing water pipes
bursting to flood,
Vegetables
rooted in virgin soil,
costing the earth,
dripping with chemicals,
She struggles to cook
for the little one
promised khichdi at school...

Nothing in hand,
no promises
no hopes;
Just a siren,
screech of a car,
Flunkeys with
mineral water,
and him,
dealing ,
with
A moneyed smile;

And she sighs,
Walking with her vessels
to the tap,
that trickles,
shakes her head.
Once again,
she will wave the flag;
it's Independence Day.