It Will Be My Shame

It would be my shame
And yours too

If our children
Still stormed streets
With angry placards
Hearts pounding in sedition
Singing,
“All we are saying….”

If they’d still shout
And leap for joy,
“Up NEPA!”

If they’d still
Loll and recline at home
Because the gates of schools
Remain unopened,

If they’d still wheel a barrow
To buy water from
The next street

If after S S 3
They’d be unable
To spell their names.

It would be my shame
But yours too.

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