India

India is dust
Brightly coloured plastic
and cement

Cows sleep in the shade of trees
Children sleep in the shade of cows

A suffocation of car horns
Street sellers and red

Baking afternoon sun
and hot tiles

Rivers of rotting garbage
that nobody can see



India is silence and respect
Bowed heads
Pressed palms

Singing crickets
and sun blanched geckos

Sacred waters
Wide eyed children
Centuries of tradition

Stray dogs
and jungle cats

India is broken buildings
and beggers

Sorrow and santuary

Contradiction and consequence

The saddest place I have ever seen